Gutter Rats of the Dead
by SoupManJoe
Summary: The Free Market Contractor Company were used to business deals going wrong. After all the company itself is unlicensed and formed by a bunch of gutter rats. The company also has a habit of seeing the job through no matter what the cost. That leaves the question, how many operators will make it back home after the events of Z-Day in Tokonosu city.
1. Chapter 1 - Morning Before the Dead

**Chapter One**

**Morning Before the Dead**

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><p><strong>Location: <strong>**Tokonosu** **City**** South West Sector -**

**Cheap and Shady ****Inn**** Room #3D**

**Time: ****11:00 AM**

**Date: Z-Day Minus One**

I stood at the open door way of my potty mouth partner's room before knocking. She had fallen asleep in her black cropped tank top which exposed her midriff and dark purple hip-hugger panties after our heavy drinking session last night. Who would've known that a cute girl with a petite frame of 5'3'' from Hong Kong would be able to knock back six cans of Heineken and top it off with a full bottle of Smirnoff Vodka?

After being partners for two years there was no form of modesty between us, but we had known each other since our adolescent years. Several of our teammates came to the conclusion that the two of us were actually shagging based on our sexually fueled teasing and flirting. Being the pranksters that we are, we decided to go along; however the gag is getting old. Despite all this, our relationship is platonic.

Casually walking towards her bed I spoke loudly. "Queen. Get up. It's time for work."

Queen shifted around in her bed with her sheets wrapped around her legs before muttering something incoherent. Queen's habit of twisting and turning in the midst of her sleep usually left her cocooned in her bed sheets whenever she woke up. Leaning over her I yanked window shutters open to let in some natural light. Queen's natural response was to writhe and moan from the sudden intrusion of light before turning her aggression towards me.

"Ah god damn it Jack! It's f_cking bright you f_cking asshole! Was five more minutes too much to ask for?"

She continued her tirade of curses until I sat down on her beside and offered her a morning cigarette from my pack of Newports. Placing a hand on my right shoulder for support, she pulled herself up into a sitting position on the bed with her legs crossed. Queen then leaned over and plucked the cigarette from my fingers with just her lips before I gave her a light. She took a long hard drag before exhaling deeply to let me know that she was still agitated with my sudden interruption of her sleep.

With the morning stoge hanging loosely from her lips she murmured.

"F_ckin' A. I didn't know they sold Newports in Japan."

Before answering her question, I lit one up for myself and took a puff. "They sell almost everything in vending machines in this country. Hell, they even have condoms in the one downstairs if you want to sample the local flavor."

Queen scratched her hair violently from her morning frustration before continuing to whine about the heat.

"Out of all the places. Out of all the god damn f_cking places in this _**shitty **_city. Blackie just had to book a **_shitty_** room in this **_shitty _**inn without air conditioning and the bloody ceiling fan doesn't even spin at full speed like it's supposed to! It's f_cking hot as dicks! I thought Japan was located further North on the map than New York!"

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><p>Blackie is one of the four founding members of our company, apart from Dan, Techie and my-self. His real name is Alan, but he received that stereotypical nickname for having the darkest skin tone in the crew as well as being the fastest sprinter at our old company with the Original Six. Despite the stereotypical nature of the name, he was actually of Malaysian descent. Yet, the name stuck. Whenever Alan was the butt of a joke or if there was a complaint that involved him, he is always referred to as Blackie.<p>

Everyone gets their fair share of being insulted at the company, but sometimes it gets pretty bad. Our in-house insults is enough to turn civil rights groups into lynch mobs demanding that our tongues be cut out before we're hanged, but to hell with them. We don't tell them how to raise their kids, so they can piss off since our insults are kept in-house, it's none of their business.

Now as to what our company does or is, let's just say we're unlicensed contractors. Most of our jobs entails transporting and providing security for contraband. We do legal work too from time to time, but that doesn't pay too well nor is there an abundance of it for us since we're not licensed. In a sense we're very much like the legal operators out there minus the hard core ex-military training most of them have received; however most of us in the company did grow up holding guns in one hand and drugs in another just to put food on the table.

Don't get me wrong, we don't go out looking for fights, it's just a part of the job when you're providing security. Fighting means we're expending ammunition, and we risk losing personnel. Both of these factors are considered to be expenses that cut into our maximum profit and we're all about making money at this company.

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><p>Queen leaned over me before flicking her cigarette ash into the empty can of Heineken located on top of the end table. Putting her head on my right shoulder lazily she asked me about our meeting with the Yakuza representative while taking another drag.<p>

"Their car will be here to pick us up in an hour, so hit the shower. You reek of alcohol."

As she proceeded to rummage through her suitcase for a clean towel I stared out at the cesspool of Tokonosu City. No matter where I went, every city had a part of town that was concealed from the tourists and middle classed bourgeois. Culture, race, none of that matter when it came to the slums of a city. The stench of gutter mud and blood was the same all over. The same foul stench almost everyone in the team had grown up inhaling since we exited our mothers' wombs. Yet, here I was wearing a white collar business suit. Ironic isn't it. Scanning the block from the third story window, I saw the legs of a poor bastard being dragged down a dark alleyway with a trail of blood being left behind.

_Same shit. Different place._

The weight of soggy clothes landing on my lap brought my attention back inside the room. Queen had just thrown her sweat soaked tank top and panties on me while she stood completely nude while finishing her cigarette.

With a smirk on my face I asked her, "What? You want me to sniff your panties like a panty otaku?"

Queen responded in kind to my smart ass remark with a fake British accent and an air of nobility in her voice.

"You know you want to you bloody pervert. They probably smell more marvelous since it was I, the Queen who has graced those garments with my delicious feminine aroma."

After delivering those lines, she shut the shower door and the muffled sound of running water was heard.

I muttered quietly to myself as I put her laundry into a plastic bag before tossing it into her open suitcase. "Feminine is the last thing you are, you sloot."

"THE F_CK YOU SAY?"

_How the hell did she… you know what, never mind. _"I said I'm going to grab some Starbucks! You want the usual?"

The sound of running water and the closed shower door did little to muffle her response, "Yep! Thanks boss!"

_Phew crisis averted. She's been hanging out with Meg too much. Girl said bloody twice this morning. _

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><p><strong>Location: Tokonosu City, South West Sector<strong>

**Time: 11:21 AM**

I walked into the sun-lit street which was no more than two and a half cars wide. This street does have a nostalgic view to it. It reminds me of Chinatown in New York. Mainly the intersection of Pell and Doyer Street. I wonder how business is for "Go Loh" in his barbershop. I'm due for a cut anyways. Damn hair is getting too fluffy. I'll visit him as long as he doesn't screw with my goatee. This thing took me a year to grow properly.

The crunching of bones from the dark alleyway brought my day dream to a close. The noise came from the alley I had observed earlier. It was pretty dark because of the shadow the surrounding buildings cast on it. The trail of blood was still there, but I assume someone would clean it up eventually. The sound of body parts being ripped didn't disturb me too much. Just another cleaner doing their job. Somebody has to get rid of the body somehow.

Upon exiting the small street I came into a fully packed two way street as people rushed about. I'd almost fit right in, until someone spoke to me in Japanese. I might be a jack of all trades, but I am garbage when it comes to any type of Asian language even with a Chinese-American background. Two blocks to my right across the street I spotted my target. The familiar logo of Starbucks coffee stuck out sore thumb in the midst of all the Japanese shops. Coincidentally muscle memory kicked right in as I speed walked towards my destination. Old habits die hard I guess.

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><p>Thankfully there wasn't much of a line in the coffee shop, I stood behind two people who were quickly serviced before the tired male employee in his early twenties beckoned me to come forward to the counter.<p>

"Uh, let me get a grande Pike and a Caramel Frap." I said quickly.

That specific order has been forged into my memory after a specific incident with Queen. I accidentally ordered a Vanilla Frap for Queen by accident after a Starbucks run for the office. The moment I handed her the drink she went ape shit and emptied both her Beretta 92FS above my head. I might be her boss, but she is called a Queen for a reason and in a stack of cards, I am but a knave.

The man apologized and possibly asked me to repeat my order. We might be speaking different languages but as human's we communicate more with our body's than just words. I repeated my order again but this time in a clearer and slower manner while pointing out the size of the cup and the beverages I wanted.

"So you American?" The employee asked in a heavy English accent as he made my drinks.

"Yeah."

"How you like Japan? Your family move there from Japan when you little?" The employee asked further as he handed me my drinks with a contemptuous look on his face.

"I'm indifferent about Japan. Feels almost like home here in the big city. By the way, I'm Chinese." I gave the employee a quick smile and noticed the emotion of contempt changed to bewilderment on his face before leaving the coffee shop hastily.

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Cheap and Shady Inn Room #3D<strong>

**Time: 11:56 AM**

Queen greeted me with a snide remark as soon as I walked through the door without even looking at me.

"Sure took you long enough boss."

Queen was applying her make up as I placed her drink down on the table before sitting down on her bed. I sipped my dark coffee with no milk or sugar added cautiously before reaching into my breast pocket for my pack Newports. Queen was dressed in a black skirt short enough to capture the gaze of almost any man by just moving her legs. She also had a red button up blouse which revealed a generous portion of her cleavage by leaving a few buttons loose. I know it's rude to stare but I was curious. Something was slightly off about her bust so I had to ask.

"They sure look a lot bigger. You got push up on?"

Queen turned around in her chair to face me with her legs crossed over each other before giving me an alluring look and answering my question. "I might be a C-cup, but it's always good to have insurance to make sure that the deal goes quickly and smoothly."

"Stand up and turn around," I beckoned.

Queen stood up and twirled around in her thee inch heels as her wavy hair with neon purple highlights spun around with her. A small sadistic grin formed along my mouth as I walked towards Queen and pulled her in by the hip. Giving her my worst perverted look I mouthed off in my old gutter rat vernacular, "Dayum girl. Yous is fine. Come holla at'chur boi."

Responding in kind, Queen took the cigarette hanging from my mouth and took a drag from it before pushing me onto the bed. She leaned over me while her left index finger caressed my black tie. Queen gave me her best amorous look before licking her lips once and asking in a husky voice, "Would you like me to puff the magic dragon... sir?"

For a second the room was silent except for the crackling of the lit cigarette in her hand. Queen broke the silence with her usual demeaning jokes.

"Well it's a shame since you can't even get it up."

* * *

><p>Another moment of silence, but it was quickly broken with the two of us staring at each other quietly snickering before we broke into boisterous laughter. Our team mates would say that the two of us have a awkward taste in sexual humor or perhaps, even childish. Sometimes our sexual jokes even had Alan stumped. He didn't know whether to scream at us or just completely give up after receiving our field reports which were covered with ornately drawn male genitals.<p>

Apparently Queen and I thought it would have been a funny to deface each other's field reports without the other's knowledge. After Alan and Dan called us over to their desks with agitated looks and our reports covered with an assortment of male genitals open on their desks, Queen and I just shook hands and complimented each other with fake British accents saying: "Well played good sir. Well played."

Not long after that, everyone at the office started to doodle male genitals on each other's property. Alan and Dan were pretty pissed off when that happened so they invited Queen and I out for a drink. The two of us woke up at the office the next morning to find ourselves covered with sharpie drawn male genitals and pictures of us passed out on the couch. While I laughed it off, Queen went berserk around the office. Apparently someone had specifically outlined her nose and made it look like the male reproductive system.

The moment Alan and Daniel stepped into the office that morning she had them tied up and hanging from the ceiling before she used them as demonstration in front of everyone of how to properly draw male genitalia. Then it became the unwritten rule around the office that you can prank Queen however you want but you don't mess with face. Do that and she'll discover ways to crucify the perpetrator that will impress Jesus Christ himself.

* * *

><p>As our laughing died down, I wiped a stray tear from my right eye before I spoke again.<p>

"That's real harsh partner. Saying that I can't get it up. As if you would know."

"I do though," she quickly responded.

Continuing our usual banter I teased her by asking if she wanted to try. As usual she flipped me off without a second thought.

"You can't afford me boss. Anyway, how's my acting?" Queen asked as our playful banter came to a close.

"Terrible, but it should be enough to mess with their heads so we can seal the deal with quickly," I answered, while readjusting my tie before throwing on my midnight blue blazer.

Queen then hung a long white scarf off my neck before handing me a pair of black tinted shades.

"You trying to kill me in this heat?" I asked while raising my right brow.

"There you go. Now you look more like a crime boss!" Queen said as she turned me towards the mirror. "Oh wait I forgot one thing. There! Now you definitely look the part."

"Shit. This is some Chow Yun Fat get-up from the eighties." I muttered with a unlit cigarette hanging loosely off my bottom lip that Queen had just placed there.

I have to admit, I did like how I looked, even if it was just for a day. Tomorrow I'll be flying back to Thailand and the day after that I'm going to back in my usual grey jeans, a flannel shirt with rolled up sleeves, a combat vest and a New York Yankee fitted baseball cap worn backwards. The sound of two honks downstairs told us that the Yakuza vehicle was here to pick us up.

"Let's get this over with quickly. I f_cking hate heels." Queen muttered with agitation. "You on the other hand look great in a suit. Should wear that for work more often."

"You kidding me? This is my best suit! As much as I would love to, I'd hate to damage it in the line of work."

"Bloody hell, you sound more like a woman every day boss." Queen said with a face-palm before she slapped my rear to tell me to get a move on.

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><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

**It's been a very long time since I have returned to this very specific site to do some writing. I have to admit, I missed it, but after 2008 I just sort of lost my drive for writing. I've had the idea of Private Contractors in the HOTD setting for quite a while since reading translated manga from SCANS OF THE DEAD. The particular idea hit me after reading the Dead Night and the Dead Ruck chapter in the series and playing Army of Two the 40th Day.**

**After taking two courses in creative fiction writing, I decided to pick the idea up again. Of course before starting on this I decided to go through what everyone else has written. I stumbled across Last Alarm written by FireManJim in early 2014 and I fell in love with his story, even though I did not leave reviews. I felt if I didn't have anything significantly helpful to contribute then there is no point in giving an empty opinion.**

** Although Jim has taken a more serious and dramatic tone in his story along with the idea of private military contractors I felt that it was not going to stop me from pursuing my idea. Quite the contrary it was the final inspiration I needed to actually start.**

**While writing, I went through some of my older work that I have done for the Runescape genre to reassess my writing. I asked myself, what can I do differently this time, how can I create more tangible characters, and the most important question: what can I do to improve dialogue and human interaction? In addition, unlike my early years on this site, I actually started to edit and craft my story instead of doing everything in one go and posting. ****I want to craft a story that would be enjoyable to readers and to do that, revisions upon revisions are mandatory. **

**Now to end this note, I would like to give FireManJim my thanks for giving me the inspirational spark of creative writing that I once lost. So Jim, if you're reading this. Thank you. For those who of you who have not read Last Alarm yet, I highly suggest you to do so. It's an extremely well crafted piece of fiction.**


	2. Chapter 2 - Business of the Dead

**Foreword: To avoid confusion early on. Thailand is roughly two hours behind Japan in the time zone.**

**Also, if any one notices the references here. Kudos to you. Cheers.**

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><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

**Business of the Dead**

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><p><strong>Location: Thailand, Roanapur<strong>

**The Chalquam Market**

**Time: 11:54 AM**

Chalquam Market was unusually quiet this late afternoon with only a few visible customers gathered in the food court area. Dark clouds were looming already in the horizon which meant a storm was coming in soon. A tall man dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and urban camouflage cargo shorts sat with his right leg shaking from anticipation as another man who has been his partner for almost a decade and a half walked to the table with two bowls of noodles. Unable to hold back anymore, the taller man voiced his concerns.

"Sure it was a smart idea to send those two for the business deal? I mean Jack I understand, but Queen? She's a bloody loose canon."

The darker Malaysian man slid a bowl of noodles to his partner as he raised his brows.

"Bloody? Since when did you start using that word? Shit, Meg is rubbing off on you too. Two weeks ago I heard Queen using that word in almost every sentence. First the male genital drawings, now it's Meg's British talk that's infecting everyone at the office."

Slightly annoyed with his partner's attempt in changing the topic, the taller man spoke, trying to keep his partner's concentration on the matter.

"Alan, the business at hand man. The business at hand!"

Alan has been in a carefree mood for the past four years since the success of their illicit company. He no longer maintained the concentration or strictness he had when he was doing wet work in the field. After sitting behind a desk for a few years will do that to people. They settle into complacency. Alan slurped his bowl of noodles before responding with a carefree smile.

"Relax Dan, it's fine. Jack will keep her in check. If you think about it, she's a better option than Meg."

Having yet to touch his food, Dan growled at his partner before voicing his concerns further.

"Still... that's not very promising. She lacks the discipline and the experience to handle these types of missions Alan."

Dan had apparently stuck a nerve when Alan suddenly stopped eating and slammed his chopsticks down and without looking at his partner he quietly made a point clear to him.

"Were any of us ready? Were you ready? Did any of us have the discipline or any type of experience back in the days of our old company? Remember where we came from **Daniel**."

The sudden outburst caught Dan off guard and if anything. Alan had only called Dan by his full name when he was terribly angry at him. However, Dan's wish has been granted, now that he had Alan's undivided attention concerning the matter. As Alan shifted his gaze slightly from his bowl of noodles at Dan he started to talk again in a dark and chilling tone.

"Remember we came from the gutter. We are nothing rabid dogs and rats. Instead of selfishly scrambling for tiny pieces of a rotten pizza slice which slipped from careless hands onto the subway tracks of New York City we decided to think progressively and take a risk. We pooled our resources together and built a ladder that allowed us to eat with silver spoons at a gourmet table. We were all once inexperienced, and it is only by taking risks that we have managed to be where we are today."

Noticing that some soup had splashed onto his red shirt, Alan grabbed a napkin from the dispenser to wipe it off before continuing on to address his partner's concerns.

"You and I both agree that Meg would have been a better choice given her background in business and psychology. Also, these particular Yakuzas seem to have a taste for western women, but let me remind you that this is Japan that we're dealing with here. Meg's western charm may have them distracted for a bit but when the time comes to seal the deal, things will get rather difficult. They are wary of _Gajins_."

Alan paused for a second to catch his breath before continuing with his chopsticks pointed in his partner.

"Although technically Queen is an outsider, an oriental face at a delicate meetings like this is will bear more fruit than that of a westerner. Besides Meg's the only one out of all of us that speaks Russian fluently on top of countless other languages. I needed her in Moscow."

Then as if a light switch has just been turned on, Alan's grim demeanor reverted back to his carefree self.

"Come on buddy, you don't have to worry. Jack's got it cover if anything. That greedy mother f_cker lives off of the thrill of making more money. Eat up before it gets cold."

Dan chuckled to himself before he started to devour his noodles with his partner. He had lucked out this one time from Alan's rage. However, Alan is definitely right about one thing. Jack is one greedy son of a bitch. If there was a large sum of money to be made on the company's behalf, Jack would get it done no matter what the cost.

Upon noticing his partner's light chuckling, Alan was curious.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Remember when we first met Jack? He was this tall!" Daniel exclaimed as he held out his arm recalling Jack's height at their first meeting.

Alan quickly swallowed the rest of his noodles to prevent himself from snorting them out of his nose.

"Of course I remember! He was a 'wee little lad' as Meg would phrase it. Mik- I mean we. We sure knew how to pick 'em. He was a crazy son of a bitch, but why are you recalling that all of a sudden?"

Alan had stopped mid sentence to prevent himself from saying the cursed name of a man who was once his best friend. A man he would have laid down his life for, a man he had trusted unconditionally to watch his back. That man was also responsible for recruiting new members and he was the one who chose to pick up the bright eyed youth to join the team, which was not a company yet.

Now it was Dan's turn to be crucial with Alan as his voice took a graver tone.

"It's just that the guy has changed so much you know. I mean, all of us has changed since that shit storm of New Years Eve of 2008, but Jack."

Dan stopped for a second to think about the words he was going to say next.

"I'm afraid Jack's gone man. I'm not dense when it comes to my boys Alan, you know that. I can sense it. Deep inside that man, something dark and sinister is lurking. I just can't get a beat on it. I think he died as well after that incident."

A moment of eerie silence fell between the two men as the storm clouds rolled closer to the harbor. Alan pondered his partner's words for a good length of time before responding.

"Daniel. I'm going to break the news to you right now in case if you haven't noticed. We all died that night. None of us are even supposed to be here. Not you, not me, not Tech, not Jack. Nobody in our team was supposed to make it out alive. No correction, it's not just us, but everyone in this company died when they picked up that *nine* to put food on the table. Don't you get it partner? We're already the walking dead, some of us just deteriorate faster."

(*nine* - street slang for a Nine Millimeter Handgun)

Dan took a moment to let Alan's words sink in. It's true. The entire team was reckless, ambitious, power and money hungry, and worse of all, insane. How they managed to survive that long was just a matter of luck and most of their team's luck ran out that New Year's Eve. It was an unwritten rule to never talk about that incident. Dan ruffled his own head in frustration. He was getting soft and complacent as well. He's been sitting behind the desk too long and the thoughts of having a nice and relaxing lunch outside was now impossible. The sound of distant thunder did little to help lift the mood.

Alan was almost done with his meal before his phone rang.

"Yeeeeoooooh!" Alan answered as he dragged out his slang greeting.

"This is Meg. Business with Moscow was a success. I'll be flying back with Tater's a little late however."

"Good job, and bring back some vodka for us if you can. Oh and try not to drink it all on the way back please." Alan said with a huge grin on his face before hanging up.

Dan stopped in the middle of finishing his soup before giving Alan a look as to who was it that called.

"Meg. She said that they're going to be back late. What'd I tell you? Put a British born German-Irish woman with a merry fat Irish together in Moscow and they'll drink against each other till their livers turn black. Come on let's head back to the office and light one up!" Alan exclaimed as he tried to lighten up the grim atmosphere.

Daniel put his bowl down and smiled weakly at his partner before nodding in agreement.

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Tokonosu City Central -<strong>

**Yakuza Controlled Nightclub**

**Time: 1:58 PM**

Queen sat in a black ball lounge chair trying to keep her attention span focused on acting like a ditzy female assistant. Her job was to distract the Yakuza representative who was sitting behind the glass coffee table across from her. Unfortunately Queen was only able to draw the attention of his subordinates while the representative himself was focused on Jack and the translator. Queen was starting to lose patience and she realized it when her right eye twitched for a second.

_This is not good. I'm starting to lose it. It's been almost an hour and I still haven't been able to make that guy drop his guard. This dude is as cool as a freaking cucumber! If I only had a f_cking bottle of vodka, some good old purple haze and a RPG-7 mounted with fireworks to shoot on the fourth of f_cking July, then I'll happy as a f_cking unicorn shitting rainbows like that pop-star pissing on teenage girls._

Jack was seated on a black leather arm chair dressed in his sleek business suit with a white scarf hanging loosely around his neck and his black shades still on despite being in a dimly lit interior. Jack had his arms laid comfortably on both the arm rests and in his right hand held a half smoked cigar. He revealed the final terms of the business contract to the Yakuza representative in clear and smooth spoken tone.

"That concludes our deal sir. My company will discreetly transport the goods from Russia into Japan via sea route under the cover of night. Depending on the weather the delivery date may vary, but your organization will definitely receive your purchase within a two week time span from now. Also keep in mind that until you receive a call from us stating that your package is ready for pick up, I advise you that it is in both of our best interest not to mention or discuss this with anyone outside of this room and if possible even those in the higher chain of command. This is to ensure that the safe delivery of your organization's purchase. Does Mr. Takemura understand what I am saying?"

Jack waited for the translator to finish relaying his message to the Yakuza representative who stared at Jack intently and Jack back at him. While the representative appeared to be a made man in his late forties with massive amounts of experience under his belt and a intimidating stern stare, Jack matched the Yakuza's stoic composure with his own emulation of a cool, ambitious and calculating young stock broker from Wall Street. When the translator finished his translation, Mr. Takemura responded with a slight nod of his head.

Jack commenced to repeat the order to make sure there were no mistakes what so ever.

"Now allow me to go through the checklist again. You have an order of six AKS-74U's, twelve Tokarev pistols, four crates full of ammunition, two of which contains 5.45mm rounds for the AKS and the other two crates contain the 7.62mm rounds for the Tokarevs. You also have two batch orders of uncut Ketamine and a shipping container of four live products, two Ukrainians, one Russian, and a American. Am I correct?"

As Jack finished without a single change in his demeanor even when it came to the part of human trafficking. The hired Japanese translator stumbled with his words in this section while translating the the message to the Mr. Takemura. The response was another silent nod of acknowledgement.

Jack proceeded to close the deal in a low but assertive tone as he leaned forward and folded his hands together.

"Very well. It is also my duty to inform you, that our company holds no responsibility for the quality of the Ketamine and the live products as they are shipped in the condition they are. We do not like shipping these products nor do we have a reason to tamper with these products because we have a name to uphold. We are professionals. We will however maintain the quality these products properly in the condition as they were shipped. If the quality of the products does not satisfy you, then we suggest not to do business with the Russians anymore. I also urge you remember that we are contracted couriers, but if you choose to do us harm for any reason. We Will Respond With Force. Mr. Translator, please make sure that you translate that last part very clearly to your employer."

The sweaty translator stopped in mid translation upon Jack's last words before gulping down his anxiety and returned to translating Jack's message word for word. Upon hearing the last words from the translator, Mr. Takemura's subordinates immediately lost their cool and jumped up from their seats aggressively shouting. Mr. Takemura's response however was a loud laugh and a look of amusement before he said something to the translator and wave his right hand to tell his subordinates to settle down.

"Mr. Takemura says that you've got balls kids, but you're very different from your loud and annoying Chinese country men. He also mentions that you don't exactly act like a rash stupid American."

Jack chuckled a bit at the comment before responding.

"My parents moved to America ten years before I was born. That gives me a mixed upbringing. However, do not make the mistake of judging my composure. Everyone at the company and myself included are very American. But, this is a business deal, we're both here to make a buck. Those who make a ruckus by drawing attention to themselves only hampers financial progress. Discretion has always been the key to success for people in our line of work and as long as both of us are making profit, who cares what product being traded is or who the trader is. **Business is Business.** Wouldn't you agree Mr. Takemura?"

Jack gave his speech with devilish grin on his face while giving smooth hand gestures that signaled a connection between Mr. Takemura and himself. He also pointed to Mr. Takemura's rowdy subordinates before waving his hands in a laid-back attitude when he spoke of the goods that they were dealing. He finished his speech by rubbing his left index finger and thumb together in a universal sign language for cold hard cash.

Queen was severely unhinged by Jack's conclusion of the meeting. His lack of apathy for the transporting helpless women to serve in Yakuza owned brothels was what took her by surprise. She knew the company dealt in dirty business such as arms and drug trafficking, but human trafficking was new to her. Jack did not even refer to them as people, but as mere products to be sold on the market.

"_What the f_ck happened to you buddy? You disappear from my life for a year, and then you come back offering me a job. But what the f_ck. Seriously. What the f_ck man?_" Hearty laughter broke Queen out of her inner thoughts and she noticed that both Jack and Mr. Takemura were shaking hands with smiles on their faces and cigars in their mouths.

"Queen, would you please go fetch us a few drinks? Mr. Takemura here wishes to discuss future security endeavors and it may be a long discussion" Jack said as he gave me an innocent smile and a quick wink with his right eye.

Queen noticed the wink and put on the brightest smile she can muster before responding.

"Sure thing boss."

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Thailand, Roanapur-<strong>

**FMC Office**

**Time: 12:13PM**

The office phone rang as Alan lit a cigarette from his pack of Marlboro Lights. Upon seeing the number on the phone his eyebrows furrowed behind the swirl of smoke coming from cigarette hanging on his bottom lip.

Dan coughed roughly with a blunt in his hand before he noticed that his partner was completely zoned out. With a hushed voice he asked:

"Hey man you going to answer that?" _Yep he's definitely out of it._

Without getting a response Dan complained aloud before picking up the phone to prevent the call from dropping.

"Jesus Christ Alan. You're all f_cked up now. How you manage the spread sheets without Jack around goes beyond me. Free Market Contractors. Dan speaking how may I help you?"

"Yo how's home Dan. Missing the sweet view of my tits and Meg's ass while we're not around?"Queen asked in a mean and teasing tone.

Dan gave a fake laugh before answering.

"My fiancee will kill me for even trying to catch a glimpse. So how did the deal go? I hope you have good news for Blackie here or I might have to take the reins in chain of command."

Finally snapping out of his trance Alan screamed at Dan from his desk even though their desks are only a foot and a half apart.

"Yo Dan! Pass the damn thing will ya? You're letting it burn too long. Stop wasting the good stuff. That's Afghan Gold for Christ sakes! When was the last time we got legit exotics in Roanapur!"

Dan held the phone's receiver away from his ear as Queen went on her bipolar verbal rampage for being left out of the fun.

"You f_ckers are having Afghan Gold without me! You sons of bitches. If you don't have some left for me when I get back I'mma turn both of you guys into fertilizers for my own personal happy garden! Anyways, deal's done. They're talking about future security endeavors."

"Woah chill out missus. We still have some legit Pineapple Express and Amsterdam Bubblegum if you want, but I'll let Blackie here know how the deal went. Keep me posted." Dan responded in a low voice before quickly hanging up the phone.

Dan handed the blunt to Alan who took several puffs before relaying Queen's message.

"Hey Queen said she's going to turn us in to fertilizers for her own personal happy garden if we don't save any of this stuff for her."

"That's scary. Very scary, but you only live once. So screw it," Alan muttered as he slid down his chair.

"Damn straight partna'."

"Hey you ever wonder how computers would sound if they had sex?" Alan asked as he continued to slide down his office chair.

"Boy. You're pulling a Jack when he used to smoke with us. Stop this awkward crap. It ain't like you, and the answer to your question would be shitty Dubstep." After answering Alan's question, Dan hit the blunt a few times before sinking back into the chair.

"Shit... now I'm all done done."

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Tokonosu City-<strong>

**Yakuza Controlled Night Club**

**Time: 2:18PM**

Queen cried out in rage after hearing a click and the line go dead.

"F_ck that shit! I've never tried Afghan. Agh! He hung up one me. Must be good to be bloody execs. All those two do is smoke up and relax while we do all the dirty work."

As her tirade of ranting to herself came to an end, Queen took a deep breath and faced the bathroom mirror.

_Ok. Get it out of your system. Phew. Poker face on? Check. Distraction devices still good? Check. Alright let's get this over with._

On her way back to the meeting room after grabbing a few drinks at the bar, Queen was confronted by one of the Yakuza's who had been present during the meeting. The man was young and had highlighted his bangs in several different colors. The way he was speaking to Queen with a perverse look in his eyes told her exactly what he wanted.

_Men. They're all the same. It's either power, money, or sex._

Queen sucked her teeth in annoyance before speaking to the yakuza member in a business like tone.

"Hey mister, I don't understand you and you don't understand me, but from the looks of things, it seems like you want to go for a romp. But for your information, I'm not a cheap whore. So why don't we hammer out the kinks in our communication and get the translator to help eh?"

Upon returning to the VIP room, Queen placed the drinks down on the glass coffee table before whispering in Jack's ear about what happened outside with the Yakuza. With a cheeky grin on his face Jack got the exhausted translator's attention before speaking.

"Mr. Translator. Tell your boss to tell the guy with the fruity color bangs that Queen is not here to satisfy his needs. She is here as my Personal Assistant."

The translator forwarded Jack's messaged to the Mr. Takemura, who instantly became infuriated with the junior officer's lack of decency towards guests and the importance of etiquette at a business deal, and very soon a light argument broke out between the two.

Jack watched the scene unfold with disgust before sucking his teeth. He leaned towards me and voiced his opinion in a low whisper.

"Subordinates who challenge their commanding officer's orders. It's disgusting."

"Yeah, but I bully you all the time boss."

Jack shook his head at Queen's comment before describing the difference.

"We slap each other with dick sandwiches all the time, but when the shit hits the fan you know when to stop."

Turning his attention to the translator, Jack announced his request.

"Mr. Translator. My assistant and I are done here. So if there is nothing left to discuss we would like to head back to inn. We are quite tired as of right now."

The translator who was wiping his forehead with his handkerchief gave a sigh of relief understanding that Jack intended to conclude this meeting. He quickly translated Jack's request to Mr. Takemura who stopped lecturing his junior officer and redirected his attention towards Jack and Queen. The two parties bowed to each other out of customary mutual respect. As the translator led Jack and Queen towards the door, Mr. Takemura returned to lecturing his junior officer.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>

**This chapter came out a lot longer after going through it three times this week. Also, it's going to be another chapter before we get to see the Zed's make their move since I am currently uploading this one while finishing up the revisions on Chapter Three. I want to spend a little more time with setting the characters in place. **

**Just because I say Queen is a potty mouth doesn't mean anything in my book. ****I believe that it is important to display her attitude, speech pattern and inner thoughts in contrast to Jack's. I hope this will help in setting both character's more in stone and make them both more distinguishable as well. However, if you have any suggestions, let me know. Thank you for your time.**


	3. Chapter 3 - The Drunks and the Dead

**Foreword: To avoid confusion early on. Thailand is roughly two hours behind Japan in the time zone.**

**Also, if any one notices the references here. Kudos to you. Cheers.**

* * *

><p><strong>The Drunks and The Dead<strong>

**Chapter Three**

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Tokonosu City-<strong>

**Cheap and Shady Inn Room 3D**

**Time: 1:30 AM**

I grunted as I opened the door to Queen's room with difficulty. Queen was riding piggy back after her alcohol induced energy burst ran out on our way back to the inn. The idiot pushed me down on my knees in her drunken stupor and climbed on top of my shoulders and screamed giddy up horsey at the top of her lungs. Wearing what little she had, the by standers around town got a great view of her butt cleavage, but they were quite shocked at degrading display at the same time.

I've dealt with her drunken state before and it was nothing new. She acts like a six year old in a supermarket with a sugar high when she get's hammered. Something as outrageous as pushing her around in a shopping cart while she swung her bra around her index fingers singing "Party in the USA" was enough to entertain her until she cooled off. However that little debacle was enough to get us in trouble with the local law enforcement and it pretty much told them that we were Americans.

We lucked out with a warning as the two young female officers, Asami and Matsushima laughed at Queen's weird antics. While I was trying to weasel our way out of an infraction, Queen was busy being a bully as usual by pulling and squeezing my cheeks before giving me a wedgie. It was easy to convince Asami, the female officer with short light brown hair to let us go, but the problem resided with her _sempai_ or senior officer as I would have guessed it.

Matsushima was no rook and by my guess she's pretty much everything. However, the same rule applies when you're trying to talk your way out of a situation. Let it be a barrel of a gun pushed in your face or if you're being detained by two patrol officers with a pen and a open ticket book. The number one rule is to entertain them into letting you go. I guess my humiliation was what entertained the both of the officers enough to let us off since we were travelers.

_God damn it woman. You got completely shit-faced again._

The sound of Queen hiccuping followed by the familiar sound of something awful coming back up prompted me to quickly close the door behind us. The fact that Queen was starting to breath heavily and her body convulsing did not bode well.

"Bathroo. Hayaku. Hayakuuu. Letsh me downsh," Queen muttered as she slurred her words in a whiny voice.

"Alright, alright, just hold it in for a minute longer," I said as I set her down as fast as I could without disorienting her, but as soon as her feet touched the ground she streamlined straight for the toilet bowl.

The renowned sounds of Queen's vomiting filled the small dingy room as I collapsed onto her bed with my feet touching the floor. I'll admit I was pretty tipsy myself, but once you get that bloated feeling out of your system, you'll sober up pretty quickly. No one ever wanted to be around for the aftermath of Queen's alcohol induced rampage and debauchery, but I was her partner. She was my job and my responsibility and vice-versa.

Queen continued her opera in the bathroom as I reached for the bag that contained the bottle of Jameson. I purchased it earlier when Queen and I went shopping after the meeting as a form of insurance for situations like this. I was not the type to leave things unfinished either.

_Since I'm already tipsy, I might as well go all the way. We're already back in the inn room so it doesn't matter if I indulged myself a little more._

Twisting the cap off of the bottle I took a quick swig. A smooth burning sensation coursed through my body as I let out a sigh of relief. I closed my eyes briefly to let them rest for a bit before recounting what had happened in the past several hours.

* * *

><p>The moment Queen and I had returned to the room after the meeting, she was screaming bloody murder for some one to let her out of her outfit. She ran into her room barefoot while carrying her heels. I had taken off my scarf and blazer before setting down both garments carefully on a chair while laughing as she got undressed and redressed in record time.<p>

My amusement quickly turned into whimpering as she dragged me out the door and announced that we were going shopping, but she was broke. Apparently she spent all her money on her visit to the gunsmith last week. To be honest, it was not that bad considering that she shopped more like a male and didn't like wasting time. Queen was concise about her selection of garments, she got in and she got out. She termed her process: **Tactical Shopping**. Sadly, that was the best part of my trip with her.

The nightmare began when we entered a district that was akin to that of Akihabara, Tokyo. Queen only made me carry the clothes because her arms ran out of room. Her arms were sheepishly wrapped around bags full of anime, manga, collectible figures, light novels, and a whole bunch of pocky and kit-kat which were specifically green tea flavored.

The noise from the bathroom had stopped so I decided to go check up on her. What I saw next, I could not say if I was pissed off or astonished. Queen had manage to fill the bathroom with blue colored vomit since the all drinks she put down tonight had some tint of blue to them; however she missed the toilet completely. Queen herself was passed out in the bathtub in a fetal position with chunks of vomit plastered caught in her hair.

With a sigh, I rolled up the sleeves of collar shirt even higher. I felt my look of disgust flip itself upside before forming into a devilish grin as I pulled my phone out of my pocket.

"This is coming out of your pay-check bitch." _But I have a better idea._

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Roanapur, Thailand<strong>

**Yellow Flag Bar**

**Time: 11:37 PM**

"She did what?" Alan asked with a grin on his face stretching from ear to ear.

Dan sat on a bar stool to left of his partner while sipping rum from a whiskey glass casually. He caught Alan's amused gaze and gave him the look of _what did the munchkin do this time._

"Sorry buddy. I can't help you there. Just take it out of her paycheck! Peace!" Alan shouted into the phone before hanging up.

"Well?" Dan asked, starting to grow impatient.

Alan's phone beeped a moment later signifying that a message has been received. Upon seeing the message, Alan slammed his head down pounding the counter and stomping his legs in a fit of laughter. Curious as to what was it that caused such an outburst from his partner, Dan picked up the phone.

Dan had to swallow the rum quickly to prevent himself from spitting it out all over the place. He coughed as he tried to laugh while getting the nasty feeling of alcohol going down the wrong pipe out of his nose. Dan attempted to regain his composure after seeing the image of Queen lying in a tub after she had redecorated the bathroom in blue puke before he remarked.

"Who the hell she think she is? Jackson Pollock?"

The two men cracked up in laughter again as tears formed around their eyes from laughing too hard. The bartender who had quite enough of their antics finally slammed both of his hands down on the counter and screamed at them. Alan quickly apologized for their behavior.

"Sorry Bao. We couldn't help ourselves."

"You're paying for repairs if you damage my counter! I just had this thing refurbished! Ugh! I don't know who's worse. The Lagoon Crew or your rag-tag team of potheads," the bar owner and bartender named Bao grumbled while scratching his head.

* * *

><p>Their merry drinking and laughter was brought to a close when Alan's cell phone rang again. Thinking that it was just another social call, Alan picked it up happily.<p>

"Chang! My man! Wha-"

Alan stopped mid sentence after getting cut off. His toothy smile was wiped off his face immediately. Dan stayed silent while staring at his partner intently.

"Yeah. Got it. Uh-huh. Roger. We'll get it done."

After Alan hung up, Dan let out a deep sigh before looking at his partner.

"Oh-kay. So?"

"We're going to Japan."

Dan twitched at this sudden declaration.

"Wait, us? Now? Why?"

Alan slammed a fifty dollar bill on the table and finished his drink before addressing Dan.

"All of us. We are all going to Japan."

Alan power walked out of the bar towards their 1978 yellow Camaro with Dan tailing him closely in confusion.

"Alan, what the hell is going on?"

"Chang just hired us as sub-contractors for a job. The main client is Uncle Sam's CIA. Everything is f_cked. I'll tell you more on the way. Get in the car."

* * *

><p>The vehicle did a little burnout before speeding off down the road. The sudden force caught Dan by surprise and it threw him back in his seat. As Dan tried to put his seat belt on, all he could do was curse and grumble under his breath.<p>

"The CIA? Shit must've hit the fan, but why hire us if they got the big boys?"

Alan slowly increased the pressure on the acceleration pedal after switching gears. His eyes never left the road as he spoke to Dan.

"Everybody is busy with the dead and dying back at home and they're pulling back as many assets as they can to maintain the situation. Since we already have a team on the ground there, and we're the closer than any of their other assets-"

Dan was scrolling through his contacts in his phone as he spoke.

"It still doesn't explain why us specifically?"

Alan took a deep breath trying to concentrate on his driving while trying to brief Dan at the same time.

"The shit storm that just hit home has everyone with their balls to the wall. The CIA has assets within the Biotec branch in Tokonosu City, Japan. They can't spare the man power for an clandestine extraction op. Since we're an unlicensed contractor company, they can disavow all affiliations without worry if things go south. In the eyes of the world, we are nothing more than a bunch of bandits performing a snatch and grab for ransom."

Dan growled upon hearing this.

"Talk about dirty. Still don't see why we have to take the job."

Alan's knuckles were turning white from gripping the steering wheel intensely.

"Dan. I don't want you to shit your pants and stain the seats. The situation I just heard mentions the dead coming back to life and eating the living. Those who survive and are bitten turn into _them_ and the process continues. This was their 'no-shit assessment' ."

Dan swallowed the dry lump in his throat upon hearing this.

"Sounds like early Halloween and Christmas for Jack huh?"

The car swung a hard left and the sudden turn threw Dan against the passenger window causing him to groan in pain. Alan continued his briefing again now that they were on the home stretch towards the office.

"Jack and Queen are in that city alone and the chances of them getting out without outside help is slim to none. You can't exactly fly into Japan like you can walk into the Yellow Flag either. However, now with the CIA, we got the green light to go in with weapons hot. It's also very probable that nobody knows how bad things really are already since they're trying to keep everything under wraps. I doubt that will last long and when everyone does find out. It's too late."

Alan stopped the car haphazardly in front of their company office, a rented three story motel. Upon turning the engine off, Alan called out at his partner who had already exited the the vehicle.

"Dan. I'm not doing it for the money. We take care of our own. I need to be sure that you understand why I am doing this. This isn't the same as '08."

"I know partner, I know."

Alan stared at his partner's back expecting a longer answer. Dan casually lit a cigarette before looking back at Alan a grin and speaking.

"Better pack the long guns. If things are going to get as bad as Langley predicted, we're going to have to do a little stand off work. This is turning into one shitty week."

"Shitty would be the right phrase partner, and I hope it's just a week. Just like old times eh?"

"Yep, just like old times."

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Tokonosu City-<strong>

**Cheap and Shady Inn Room 3D**

**Time: 3:01 AM**

"Phew. I'm finally done. Alright missy, time to get you to bed." I said aloud with a grunt as I carried Queen out of the bathtub to her bed.

I had to give Queen a quick rinse down. She had puke all over her hair. Sometimes it feels like I'm more of her baby sitter than her partner. Well at least she won't complain about the heat since she's sleeping nude. I sat down on the floor in front of her bed with a sigh. My white collar shirt was completely soaked from cleaning her and the bathroom. My tie was also soaked and it hung haphazardly around my neck.

Grabbing the bottle of Jameson which I placed on the floor earlier, I took another swig before lighting up Newport. With a bottle in one hand and a cigarette in another I stared at the ceiling fan rotating slowly above my head as it slowly lulled me to recollecting the events that happened tonight at the bar.

The night was going on as usual with a few guys hitting on Queen to start things off. I don't blame them though. She was dressed in black combat boots that matched her high waist cutoff short shorts, which also revealed a good portion of her rear end. The white crew neck tee-shirt which she had tucked into her shorts only enhanced the qualities of her chest. The over sized hipster glasses she had on was complimented by her wavy hair. Queen's outfit gave the bachelors there the impression that she was from out of town.

The fact that she was sitting with me didn't help either since I looked like a regular guy who just left the office with my sleeves rolled up and a loose tie. From the perspective of the locals it seemed like she was here to hook up with a rich business man while I was trying to get her drunk through the game of dice that we were playing. Of course the two of us were speaking in a mix of Cantonese and English.

When the local bachelors approached Queen to supposedly steal her away from a loser business man, she brushed them off with an attitude that would label her as the "Queen bitch of the universe." Queen was a tease, she knew it, and she loved it. However she was not a total stuck up. She would converse with both the male and female bartender working because both of them spoke a good portion of English. From those conversations she picked up a few phrases of Japanese, but she learned the bad ones first. She is a potty mouth after all.

In her tipsy state, Queen asked me about the incident on New Years Eve of 2008 and like a drunken asshole I flipped my shit. Alcohol. It does strange things to people. I'm usually a quiet happy drunk. Queen on the other hand was already bipolar to begin with. Overall she was a tough cookie, but whenever she drank, her emotional control went flying out the door.

At first tears rolled slowly rolled out of Queen's eyes after my outburst. Trying to not to draw anymore attention to ourselves I swiftly walked her out of the bar while apologizing. By then her face was a complete mess from her make up. Nobody was to ever talk or ask about the New Year's incident, but she continued to ask in between her sobs. I know she was concerned about me after becoming my partner. She noticed something different and she was worried.

* * *

><p>Even my pops was concerned when I visited him at the hospital three years ago.<p>

"You little shit. You think you're some big shot slinging around all this dirty money?" Those were his exact words.

"Even if I had graduated and gotten a proper job like my brother. We wouldn't be able to put you in the state of the art facility like this one pops. Not on those shitty checks. Besides if I wasn't spending it on you and mom I would be wasting it all on drinking myself stupid every night," I replied.

"I appreciate all of this. Believe me I do. I also know what you're doing to make this kind of money kid. It's made you cold. A day will come when your luck finally runs out. I don't want to see that day. A parent should never have to bury their child."

He passed away from cancer three months later. My mom followed shortly after her conditioned worsened from my dad's departure. I called Alan at the time and took three months off. He and Dan told me to take as long as I needed. I spent another three months in the state burying my parents. For a week my brother and I drank ourselves stupid. Despite the conditions we grew up in, we were a closely knit family and my brother and I were all that was left.

Before departing at the airport my brother asked me if my crazy ass was going to quit. I never responded. I loved the job.

* * *

><p>After calming Queen down from her teary eye outburst I decided to make it up to her. I was the one who lost my cool first, so I was the one responsible for the events that occurred. The two of us walked into a nearby Seven-Eleven, while she was busy in the bathroom cleaning up I purchased a six-pack of Heineken. I had already made up my mind to tell her what happened that New Years Eve. It was going to be a long story, and I just found the perfect place to tell it. A bridge to the west of the Seven-Eleven that had a sign which read in both Japanese and English letters: Onbetsu Bridge.<p>

The feeling of my half smoked cigarette being plucked from my mouth brought me back to my senses as I opened my eyes. Queen had awakened from her short drunken slumber. The night was almost quiet despite the sounds of pleasure being emitted from a couple down the hall. The soft sound burning paper and Queen inhaling the carcinogens before letting out a deep sigh filled the room. I felt her shift closer to return the cigarette to it's original owner. With her lips close to my ear she whispered.

"You were falling asleep. It's not safe to fall asleep with a lit flame. Partner."

"Heehee. My fault. I was thinking of a romantic suicide," I joked cruelly.

Queen was lying on her back with the sheets covering her nude form as she gazed at the ceiling. Both of us spoke in a tired and soft tone. Tired as we were there was always room for a little late night banter.

"That's kind of dark. However, that doesn't sound like the type guy who talks about how he is going to go out in a fiery explosion if there was a zombie apocalypse."

"Fat chance of that ever happening. We all know that a zombie apocalypse is impossible from *CDC* standards," I muttered before taking another swig from the bottle.

(*CDC* - Center for Disease Control and Prevention)

I heard the sheets slide off before feeling the pressure of Queen's upper body on top of mine. From the corner of my left eye I could see the right side of her face. Her cheeks were still slightly flushed from the alcohol she consumed earlier. Queen moved her left arm forward to pluck the bottle of Jameson from my grasp. She raised the bottle to her lips in a lazy motion and I heard the sound of her throat gulping down a good portion of Jameson.

"You're still going? I'm not cleaning up after you again."

Queen let out an exasperated sigh as I felt her hot breath on my ear. With her chest pressed against my back she placed the bottle back down on the ground before answering.

"You shouldn't be the one to talk partner. Haven't you had enough to drink yourself? Besides, romantic and suicide? Not your style. Unless you were thinking about proving our team mates right and eloping with me."

Being the smart ass I am, I replied without wasting a second.

"You're too young. I prefer older women."

Queen's weight left my back as I felt her flop back onto the bed.

"Hey Jack? About earlier. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"It's fine. I was a being a dick. There's no I in team, partner. So don't worry about it miss."

Although it was quiet in our room, I thought I could hear Queen's lips cracking a small smile at my reply.

A shrill scream of a woman echoed outside in the dark night. A dumb broad must have been captured while walking home alone tonight. Not that it was my problem. It's not like I would have been much help either in my drunken state. Then the sound of a man moaning angrily followed by the noise of fists banging on the door down the hall had us tilting our heads up in curiosity. Queen broke our silence.

"Hell of a day huh? Want to check it out?"

"Pretty shitty one at that. No. It's probably a pissed off drunk who just found out his wife is getting rammed by another young stud. Besides, I am too f_cked up to even get to my room. So I guess I'll just crash like this tonight."

"Go ahead partner, but the bed is mine," Queen whispered before turning over in her bed.

I closed my eyes, but a the sudden thought of my last conversation with my father crossed my mind again.

"Hey Queen. Be honest with me. Are you saving any of this money?"

"Why? Do you some cash? I can probably go down the hall right now and sell myself if you really need some. Or you can pimp me out back in Roanapur," Queen said jokingly as she turned around again to face the back of my head.

_Yeah. Our jokes were pretty dark and cruel._

"No it's not that. Besides I don't think your chest matches up very well compared to those silicon filled bimbos," I replied with a slight chuckle.

"So what is it? You thinking about retiring?"

"Maybe. I can't maintain a higher body count than you forever you know. I'm thinking about opening up a bar back in New York. You know, old fashion tavern. What do you think partner? Want to help out as well?"

No response. The sound of her light snore meant that she was completely out cold.


	4. Chapter 4 - Dead Men Don't Knock

**Foreword: I think it's about time for some characters from HOTD to come into play. However they are not the main characters who have already received so much screen time. With that I present to you the female officers, Asami Nakaoka and Matsushima, the later is seen post credits of Episode 12 in the anime while she was still alive and not one of _them_.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Four<strong>

**Dead Men Don't Knock**

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Roanapur, Thailand-<strong>

**Golden Swingin Night Club Bathroom**

**Time: 12:43 AM**

Sounds of pleasure can be heard by anyone who was walking into the men's room, but this was Roanapur. This was common. In this city, women sold themselves at the speed an ice-cream truck would sell ice-cream in the middle of summer. Eventually the noise began to die down there was a final grunt from a man before a sigh of relief was heard.

The stall next door another man in his early twenties sat on the toilet with his black skinny jeans pulled down. His black, ribbed tank top with neon colored graffiti spelling the letters **EDC** was soaked with sweat. His black hair was styled in a bob cut with long sweaty bangs plastered to his forehead. The young man grunted and cursed under his breath while holding his stomach. Suddenly the man who was groaning with pleasure in the next stall broke into a scream.

"Hey would you keep it down! People are trying to drop a deuce here buddy! If you don't want teeth just say so!" The younger man shouted as he pounded on the side of the stall.

The screaming and pounding went on as the younger man's complaint was ignored. With all the screaming going on the younger man thought it was simply better to give up and try another time. The screaming eventually stopped, but if the younger man had actually looked at the bathroom floor before exiting, he would have noticed a pool of crimson liquid.

Upon exiting the bathroom he felt his phone vibrating in his jeans. Checking the caller name on his cell phone, he pushed and shoved his way through the dance floor towards the club exit while muttering in displeasure.

"You've got to be kidding me Blackie. It's my week off."

Walking past the bouncer outside, the man whispered in the bouncer's ear.

"Hey I think some punk just _*OD-ed*_ while getting his whistle blown. Better check it out big man."

_(*OD-ed* - Overdosed)_

Now that he had some privacy, the man picked up the phone and started to walk towards his car parked around the block.

"Yeah'ello. Glover here."

Alan's irritated voice barked at him from the other side of the line.

"Took you long enough to pick up kid. Cookie you still on?"

Another voice other than Alan's sounded off over the phone.

"Yeah. Keep going. I'll listen while I eat."

"Alright I'll keep it short. We got a job and it's all hands on deck for this gig. Meet us at the office for the briefing in thirty. That's it."

Glover heard a click over the phone signifying that someone had just hung up. Still he had to converse with his partner.

"Hey Cookie you still there?"

Although there was no coherent answer, the sound of noodles being slurped was enough to confirm that his partner was still on the line. Glover decided to ask another question.

"Hey, you know what's going on? All hands on deck. How many teams do we have off duty in town right now?"

Glover was starting the engine of his car as he waited for his partner answer his question.

"No clue, but whatever it is, it's probably bad. We have Taco, Tex, Hunter, Jordwell, Marco, Rookie, and the two of us."

"That's four teams being mobilized at once. Shit must have really hit the fan then."

"For all we know, it's probably a shit storm already. Come pick me up at Chalquam market."

"Ok, but you're buying dinner."

"No problem, I'll get you some spicy spring rolls from the grandma that runs the shop."

"No. Anything but that. I almost died from food poisoning last time."

* * *

><p>Glover's 1989 Mazda 323 pulled up in front of Cookie who was sitting down on a bench eating a freshly made scallion pancake.<p>

"You're still eating you fat ass? Come on! Get in! I already wasted fifteen minutes coming to pick your lazy ass up!"

Cookie approached the car with a shit eating grin as he dangled a plastic take-out bag playfully in front of Glover.

"Oh no. You've got to be shitting me. No," Glover said completely pissed off.

Cookie bought the exact same item Glover had asked him not to purchase. As Cookie sat down in the passenger seat, the car's balance shifted slightly towards the passenger side. Glover looked at his partner's shit eating grin as the take-out bag landed on his lap.

"I'm not eating that. Your fat ass just had to buy the spring rolls. You could have bought dumplings! You know what? You're a f_cking extortionist man. I'm gonna apply for a partner change," Glover said while staring at his partner with disbelief.

Cookie did his best not to laugh at his partner's agony.

"Come buddy. Let's drive."

"Kill yourself," Glover retorted as he threw the take-out bag towards the back of his car and pushed down on the acceleration pedal.

"You're going to treat your car like that? What's wrong with you?"

"It's a piece of shit. Why the hell would I care?"

"Woah, that's a lot of vinegar. Alright, here you go," Cookie responded as he whipped out half of a _*Banh Mi*_.

(_*Banh Mi* - Vietnamese bread, but also referred to for sandwiches)_

Glover immediately snatched the sandwich out his partner's hand before chomping down on it while driving. With his mouth full, Glover pointed to the back of his car with his sandwich.

"You're cleaning up that mess in the back by the way."

"Why are you so salty? I got you food right? Fine. I'll just clean it up and take this baby home and tune her up."

"What? You're going to tune her up to do what? Deliver tofu?"

Cookie never responded this time as he looked out the window quietly. They were close to the office and it was time to stop their usual horsing around. Throwing the half eaten sandwich onto the dash board, Glover grabbed his left over fast food drink from the cup holder for a quick sip.

Cookie broke the short silence after he finished putting his thoughts into a sentence.

"Hey you think Marco and Rookie are good to go? I mean after what happened last month."

Glover put his drink back down in the cup holder before he answered.

"We all know it was Rookie's fault. Marco would've been fine if he was working alone. Thing is, if this shit is bad enough for Alan to send in all the teams, I think we should play center for this one"

"You want to ask Alan for the center position then?" Cookie asked as a smirk appeared on his face.

"F_ck asking. We'll just take it," Glover responded with a cheeky grin as he parked the car in front of the office and looked at his partner.

Cookie's smirk was still on his face before he gave Glover a fist bump and the two exited the vehicle in unison.

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Roanapur, Thailand<strong>

**FMC Office, Briefing Room**

**Time: 1:20 AM**

Glover and Cookie walked into the briefing room full of cigarette smoke as they noticed that the other teams were here already. Tech, the company's electronic wizard and a founding member was outlining routes with Alan and Dan. The duo took a seat next to Marco who sat in the front of the room.

"Hey Marco. How's the leg?" Cookie asked in an attempt to stir up something casual.

"Not too bad, but it looks like I'll have to sit this one out. Sorry kiddos."

"It's fine Marco. We got this," Glover replied with a smile and a pat on Marco's back.

Alan's booming voice yelled out as everyone in the room stopped their mindlessly chatter and turned their attention to the front of the room.

"Listen up fellas! Before, we go sticking our genitals into the glory hole I want to tell you, that the situation is nothing like that of what we have faced before. I acknowledge that all of you are mean sons of bitches who hail from the worst parts of your neighborhood. So let me make it clear. This is a combat op in an urban environment and the amount of possible enemy contact is extremely high. If anyone, and I mean anyone wants to step out of the room. I won't hold it against you."

None of the contractors in the room moved a single muscle. Everyone here was cocky and a gun-ho maniac. You had to be if you wanted to survive in Roanapur in the first place. Alan and Dan stared intently around the room in silence but they only found the same greedy gaze from each man. They were all here to make a buck. Glover was the first one to speak up and he was cocky about it as well.

"What's the take boss? You call all of us here and now you're building tension like a cheap drama director. If anything my team will play center so you won't have to worry."

Before Alan can answer another voice from the back of the room spoke up with a British accent.

"Well aren't you a cheeky little twit, talking to the boss like that?"

"You're the one to talk, Hunter. You British -"

"Hey, hey, hey! Stow it! This is serious! We're on the clock here!" Alan shouted at the two contractors to pipe down before things got out of hand.

* * *

><p>The two contractors shut their mouths immediately and returned to facing Alan as he continued.<p>

"Alright. This might be hard to believe, but we pretty much have a zombie apocalypse on our hands. This is a no-shit assessment from Uncle Sam though they didn't phrase it as such. They're trying to keep things under wraps, but from the looks of things, come tomorrow morning it's going to be nothing but carnage. Now I will say it again. I am not shitting you guys about the zombies."

Alan paused his briefing as he looked around the room at the contractors. Each one of them had a cynical expression on their face. He knew the situation was outrageous, he could hardly believe it himself. In a low voice Alan asked Tech to bring up the slides on the projector before he started his report.

"18:00 Hours. Victim was mutilated on sixth street of Austin, Texas. 19:00 Hours, postmortem reports had it filed under mauling by an wild animal. 22:00 Hours, hospital security guards on patrol heard noises that consisted of growling and banging that came from the mortuary. Upon opening the door, the guards were attacked by an unknown assailant. One of the security guards had his jugular ripped out. The other security guard tazed the attacker to no effect. The attacker and guard engaged in hand in hand combat where the guard eventually destroyed the assailant's cranium with his baton."

The faces of the contractors who were listening to the report were still skeptical. Alan took a deep breath before he continued.

"The security guard who was attacked was pronounced dead at the scene ten minutes later. The assailant was identified as the mutilated victim admitted earlier in the day. Officer's on patrol near the hospital rushed to the scene. At 22:20 hours the corpse of the security guard who was pronounced dead showed signs of movement. The other security guard rushed to his partner's side only to be bitten on the leg. Officer's on site fired five rounds of 9mm parabellums into the chest of the attacker."

Alan hesitated before saying the next two sentences.

"The shots fired into the chest had no effect what so ever. A sixth round entered the cranium of the attacking security guard which ended all of his movement."

Alan took a break from the reports before the British contractor named Hunter voiced his skepticism again.

"Oi, just leave it to the bloody Americans to be doing sumthing stupid. Blimey, it's not the first time. Remember the crazed bath salt joker a while back? Took several rounds to take the bloke down as well."

Alan took a sip of coffee from his mug waiting for Hunter to finish before he continued his briefing while ignoring Hunter's comment.

"At 23:00 Hours, the bitten security guard was turned seriously ill. He was diagnosed with hypothermia and rabies-like symptoms. He was confirmed dead at exactly 23:03 Hours. Guess what fellas, two minutes later he was reported banging on his room door, doing the exact same thing the last two victims were doing after they were pronounced dead."

Alan continued on his briefing with two other reported cases that described similar outcomes in New York and Miami. He also mentioned that similar cases were recorded in first world countries over the world. When he was finished his briefing, the contractors in the room were no longer skeptical, but severely unhinged and uneasy. Their faces were pale as if they had seen a ghost.

* * *

><p>Dan who had been leaning on the edge of a coffee table to the left of Alan stood up and took the stage. There was no time for everyone to sit in shock.<p>

"The situation is as stands. We will be flying to Tokonosu City, Japan, courtesy of Chang's private plane. Our job is to find and extract CIA assets embedded along Biotec Personnel to the safe confines of the _U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard_. These assets have received the sit-rep and they are all bunkered down in their homes awaiting extraction. After extracting said assets our official job is done."

The mood of the room was gone from the usual laid back briefings to adamant professional one. The men were still shocked but they now understood the gravity of the situation. Hunter who was one of the usual loud mouth's even raised his hand to ask a question. Dan simply put his own hand up to tell Hunter that he was not done yet.

"Now you're all wondering why the hell are we taking on a job from the CIA. That does not matter. What does matter is that Jack and Queen are still in Japan without extraction nor back up. We take care of our own fellas. You know that. Any questions?"

Hunter raised his hand again. With a sigh, Dan acknowledged him.

'What is it Hunter?"

"What about the Irish bastard and the dirty blonde?"

Everyone knew he was referring to Meg and Tater. The team was in Russia without back up as well, but before Alan or Dan can answer, Tech addressed the question himself while continuing to work on his laptop.

"I've already contacted them myself. They were able to charter a flight from Russia to Japan before the Russians started to shut down all forms of travel. So we won't have to worry too much. Our main concern is getting the two pissed drunk idiots who are probably f_cking each others brains out in a cheap motel. We haven't been able to get in contact with them. So they are completely in the blind about the situation."

Murmurs of surprise filled the room. It was not because Tech spoke. Contrary to popular depiction of the usual computer whiz, Tech was out spoken and a prankster and he was not the person you wanted to get into an argument with because he always won. The man had an IQ of 137, just short of a genius and he could have taken the bar to become a lawyer. Nobody knows why he stuck around with the rest of the guys given the opportunities.

What surprised the rest of the guys was that Tech had actually confirmed Jack and Queen's sexual relationship and normally Tech stayed out of conversations concerning such topics. Having briefly forgotten the dire situation on their hands, the men shot into cahoots about the confirmation of Jack and Queen shagging. The room was now filled with questions of how did Tech know, and whether or not if he had a hidden video camera installed in their rooms. The questions even went as far as to speculating how much the video would sell to Rowan who was in charge of distributing pornography in Roanapur.

Being the prankster he is, Tech only smiled and nudged his glasses back up his nose as he teased the rest of the men.

"Yeah. They're going at it right now. It's a great show. You guys want to watch?"

Of course Tech didn't have anything, he was just pulling their legs. Alan decided that enough was enough and stepped in again.

"Alright, alright. As much as we want to find out if Jack is really poking Queen or if it's the other way around, we still have a job to do. We're breaking into two teams after landing at Tokonosu airport. Team One will be Glover, Cookie, Hunter, Jordwell, Taco and Texas. Glover you said you wanted to play center, so you're taking point on extracting the assets from their homes."

Upon hearing this, Hunter cracked another wise one.

"A little good old fashioned *_Fish and Chips* _eh? Sounds right up your alley, Texas."

(_*Fish and Chips* - British Acronym for Fighting In Someone's House and Causing Havoc In Peoples Streets)_

"For the last time, Hunter, I grew up in Alabama." Texas replied.

"Close enough. T&T sounds more bad ass than T&A wouldn't you agree Taco?" Hunter continued to chide.

"T&A sounds like soft core porn." Taco remarked with a laugh.

The rest of the contractors started to chuckle at the little banter that happened in the middle of Alan's speech. Alan chuckled a bit himself from his smart ass employees. However, Glover noticed that something was off about the amount of people in Team One. There were four teams, but Marco is out of commission. So that meant Rookie was by himself. Alan cleared his throat loudly and answered Glover's question before it was asked.

"Team Two would be comprised of Rookie, Dan and myself. I will personally be leading Team Two to extract Jack and Queen. After that we will regroup with Team One for exfil at the docks. Tech and Marco will stay here providing mission coordination."

Shock filled the room again after Alan's announcement. The two bosses were going into the hot zone themselves. It was a rare sight because the two of them have been behind the desk for quite some time.

"Gear up and be armed for bear. We're not taking any chances. Dismissed," Alan ordered as he concluded the meeting. The clock was ticking and as of right now at **01:55 Hours**, the mission was a **Go**. It was **Z-Day**.

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Tokonosu City-<strong>

**Cheap and Shady Inn Room #3D**

**Time: 11:00 Hours**

I was up late the night before everything ended. I probably wasn't the only one either. As Queen and I were busy sleeping in her dingy little inn room, the world outside began to tear it self apart. The vibration of my phone in my pants was what woke me up. I answered it while half-awake as my hand moved to cover my eyes from the bright rays of sunlight.

_Hell of a way to wake up to the end of the world now that I think about it._

"Speak."

The sound of Alan's voice screaming at me was like that of an annoying alarm clock.

"About damn time you picked up your phone! I thought you and Queen were dead!"

"No. We're both fine-" I groaned sleepily but Alan cut me off immediately.

The sounds of rotors in the background had Alan continuing to scream over the phone but before he could finish his sentence the line went dead with a click.

"Every-thing's gone to shit! Just check the news! Just stay-"

I was still confused as to what Alan was talking about, so I pulled up the news app on my phone. Normally I'm not much of a morning person after spending a whole night drinking, but after scrolling through the news feed on my phone I began to grow a little bit concern. CNN, BBC, all major news outlets had reports of a killer disease, people biting and eating each other. The dead coming back to life. It all sounds like a zombie apocalypse, but I was cynical.

That was until I flipped the TV on in my room with the volume blaring. I cursed under my breath as I toned it down. I didn't need to understand Japanese in order to get a grasp of the situation. Flames, riots, panic, and full city lock down. The sounds of sirens echoing around the neighborhood was enough to confirm that something definitely happened while I was sleeping.

The news switched over to recorded footage of several men armed to the teeth fitted with tactical gear. The footage looked like it was taken from the early hours of the morning.

_They look like Spec-Ops. SEALS? No. They're all sporting facial hair. Most likely DELTA, but __shouldn't__ they be in Afghanistan? What business do they have here in Japan?_

I continued to watch the footage while pondering the team's origins. At the bottom corner of the video I noticed people with their arms outstretched shambling towards the team, but the team was walking towards the team of police officers at the exit of the park. This continued for a few more seconds before the team stopped and looked at one of their members who was started screaming and pointing. I gritted my teeth in frustration at the events that followed. The team scrambled in separate directions while the officer's opened fire every where. What a mess.

_They're not Spec-Ops. They're Private Military Contractors! Not like us either. These guys are legit!_

I mentally punched myself in the head for being so slow in the morning. I usually need three cups of coffee before my cogs in my brain started to turn, or I would substitute the coffee with a large can of Red Bull.

However all that ruckus they caused may lead to difficulties for us in the future if we want to conduct business in Japan. I sighed while shaking my head at the video footage before muttering a catch-phrase that completely applied to the footage.

"Yippee ki-yay motherf_ckers."

Then again, the media did like to blow things out of proportion. A while back there were incidents with people high on bath salts in the states with similar crimes. From the looks of things outside, it's probably another civil unrest or a riot.

As I approached the door to the hallway, the stench of something foul tingled my nose. There was no doubt about it. It's the same shitty smell of blood boiling in the mid summer heat of New York City's subways. Somebody definitely got wasted here last night and the cleaners are probably here mopping up.

_But the amount of noise the television made when I turned it on was enough to get anyone's attention. It is possible that the cleaners have not arrived yet. Better safe than sorry anyhow._

While rummaging through Queen's suitcase I glimpsed at her sleeping figure from the corner of my eyes. She was still out cold. My hands finally came into contact with a familiar cold grip. A Tokarev pistol. Our Russian friends in the area provided them to Queen and I the moment we landed as protection. I didn't think I would have to use it since Japan is actually fairly safe overall, but right now I'm pretty happy we had them.

As I pulled the firearm out from under the mess of clothes the door to the room suddenly collapsed without warning. The silhouette of a man collapsed on top of me with his arms stretched out. Queen yelp behind me from the sudden intrusion. The Tokarev was knocked out of my hand as I grabbed his wrists and pushed my foot against his chest before tossing him towards the bathroom door in one swift motion. The sickening sound of his bones cracking upon impact caused me to think that he was incapacitated.

The assailant only responded with a hollow moan before he started to crawl towards me in a disfigured and twisted position. My eyes widened when I saw his face. His skin was sickly gray, and his pupils were rolled up with hemorrhaging around the sides. The man was closing and opening his jaw violently which imitated the sounds of heels clicking on marble tiles.

I sat on the ground, back against a chair and frozen in shock. I recognized what this thing used to be and what it is now. My eyes were wide eyed and I could only clench my chest with my right hand as I gasped for air. It felt like all the oxygen just vanished. Two quick consecutive shots rang out to my right as bullets passed through the man's cranium.

The sound of Queen speaking slowly in disbelief shifted my attention towards her.

"What. The. F_CK."

Everything was quiet now in the room except for my wheezing from hyper ventilating. I slowly shifted my gaze to my partner with horror in my eyes and my chest rising and dropping rapidly. Queen was no different, the same expression of being awestruck mixed with horror was on her face. Then her face contorted into a sickly look before she bent over the side of her bed and retched.

My phone vibrated next to me on the floor as the screen lit up from morning alarm. I checked the time from where I was positioned.

**TIME: 11:15 AM, ****Z-Day, FIRST CONTACT**

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Tokonosu City-<strong>

**Police Substation**

**Time: 11:00 Hours Z-Day**

Asami Nakaoka yawned in her seat with a mug of green tea in front of her. She was lost in trance recalling the events that happened late last night while staring out the window of the _*Koban*. _The feeling of someone shaking her shoulder brought her back to her reality.

(_*Koban* - Japanese police substations)_

A familiar voice called out from behind her.

"ASAMI! We have patrol in five minutes. Finish up and get ready!"

"Erh? It's time already? I'm so sorry Matsushima-sempai!" Asami screamed in shock as she jumped from her seat to face her mentor.

Matsushima sighed as she rubbed her temples with her right hand.

"Geez Asami-chan, you have to stop zoning out like that if you want to become a good police officer in the future."

"Hai! Asa- I mean this officer will try her hardest!" Asami said loudly with a sharp salute.

Matsushima laughed heartily at her junior officer's revitalized spirit. It was good to be alert on the job, but expending too much energy at once won't do much good either. If Asami spent all of her vigor now, then she would be exhausted if they had to respond to an emergency later on. As Matsushima led the way out of the substation to begin their patrol she looked over to her partner.

"Asami-chan. I know I have been hard on you, and I know you've been trying. Although I am a senior officer, it doesn't mean that we have not become friends over the time. You don't always have to be professional around me. Knowing when to relax and take it easy is an important part of the job as well. You'll burn yourself out if you keep doing what you're doing."

Asami was taken by surprised from her mentor's sudden lax comment as she stopped walking.

"Oi, oi, Asami? Are you okay?"

"Hai! This officer, I mean Asami was just surprised to hear those words from you sempai."

Matsushima let out another laugh and wrapped a arm around Asami's shoulder pulling her in close.

"Lighten up Asami-chan. We're partners remember!"

The two patrol women continued to walk down the street conversing freely while keeping their eyes open and staying alert. After walking for a while, the events from last night popped into Asami's head again.

"Eh-do. Matsushima-sempai. I was wondering. Why did you let those two go last night. I was certain that you were going to write them up."

Matsushima gave the younger officer a small grin.

"I really looked like I was about to didn't I? Well I actually didn't have the intention of giving them a ticket at all. Travelers get scared easily abroad, so I just wanted to frighten them a bit to make sure this doesn't happen again. What do you think would happen if every officer ticketed a foreigner for something silly? Nobody would want to visit Japan if it's troublesome. Sometimes you need to know when to let the little things go with a strict warning."

Asami was astonished by the amount of information that Matsushima had processed and put into consideration when performing her duty as a police officer. Feeling inspired, Asami applauded her mentor.

"Matsushima-sempai is truly amazing. Asami will work hard to follow in sempai's footsteps!"

Matsushima smiled at the sigh of her pupil's face which gleamed with inspiration. The heart filled moment was short lived when screams of panic erupted around the corner followed by the sound of two gunshots which echoed off in another direction further away. Matsushima's warm expression was quickly replaced with a serious expressions as her eyes narrowed.

"Matsushima-sempai, which one do we attend to?"

"Seeing to the safety is our number one duty. We're not equipped to deal with criminals with fire arms so we won't be much help. It's a lot further too, so we'll respond to the screams first! Let's go Asami!"

Asami nodded in acknowledgement of Matsushima's quick thinking before running off after her.

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Tokonosu City-<strong>

**Cheap and Shady Inn Room #3C**

**Time: 11:27 Hours**

"This is some grim shit we got ourselves into." Queen said while mopping her face with a towel. "Have you contacted Alan yet?"

Queen had put down the intruder with a double tap, but she vomited after noticing the condition of the man's body. His clothes were torn and tattered, but his intestines were pooling out and a good portion of his jugular was missing. Nobody should have been able to survive damage of that magnitude, let alone have the energy to knock down a door.

While Queen was busy painting the floor with her morning vomit, I sat on the floor wide eyed and shuddering. It was not because of the sight of the horribly disfigured corpse that was in front of me. It was because my brain had just registered everything that I was sitting there in shock.

I was a zombie genre fan.

I knew the rules.

I knew how things work.

That's why I was just sitting there in shuddering with fear.

_If that... thing. If... my muscle memory hadn't kicked in from the breach. It would have gotten a good chunk out of me. If that had happened. It's game over._

After the breach incident, we decided that it would be more comfortable and slightly safer in my room. In addition it was better to have a door in between _them_ and us. I led the way back to my room but upon entering the hallway I discovered nothing short of a Jackson Pollock painting with the exception that it was made with blood. Mangled and half eaten body parts were scattered all over the place.

The door to the room where a couple was having their recreational fun last night was broken down as well. I didn't want Queen passing out from the view so I told her to hold her breath and close her eyes while I carried her into my room.

I was staring at a map of the city trying to distinguish key locations as I answered Queen's question.

"I've tried but I couldn't get through to him. With the way things are, the high call volumes in the city must be messing everything up."

Queen was having difficulty clipping on her bra after a quick shower in my room. My hand was still shaking as I lifted a can of Red Bull to my lips for another sip.

"Well, you're the zombie fanatic of the team, always talking about what to do in these scenarios with Alan and Dan. What's the play boss?" Queen asked while doing her best not to stutter.

She was obviously still shaken by the even, and so was I, but I had to conceal my own panic. I had to for my partner. If both of us lost our cool then everything falls apart. Without looking away at the map I replied.

"We still don't know for sure if they're zombies. They can just be infected like the rage virus from 28 Days Later. There's a distinction between the two."

Just as I feared. Queen finally cracked. She couldn't even put on her undergarment at this point.

"Like hell if it matters at all. This is just crazy. Seriously, it's insane. Yeah sure it might'v been shit and giggles back at home, but for this to happen actually. F_ck. F_ck. F_ck."

The panic was settling in as she continued to curse in a fetal position on my bed. I was starting to lose it myself.

"Keep quiet. Have a smoke and calm down while you're at it. I'm trying to f_cking think here."

Queen heeded my advice but she was still disturbed. Smoke swirled around her as she announced her concerns. Her voice was rising every passing second.

"Jack. I signed up as a contractor. I've been your personal security detail for the past two years while you went on sealing business deals for the company in hot zones. I can protect you through the desert hot sand of Afghanistan and even through the f_cking Alamo. Fighting has always been psychological act. You can always intimidate the enemy into retreating or surrendering."

I shifted my gaze from the map to her face filled with dread. Tears were forming in the corner of her wide eyes. Her pupils were completely dilated. Queen paused for a moment as she gazed back into my eyes before beginning again.

"But these f_ckers, Jack. I've seen the movies and played the games. They don't know fear. They don't know exhaustion. Dealing with flesh eating infectious zombies was not part of the f_cking contract."

_This was bad. Queen was at the tip of her breaking point now. I had to bring her back. Ok. Play it by the books Jack. You've done this before. _

"You're right. You signed up to provide security and transportation of goods. You never signed up for an apocalypse. But, right now you have two choices. You can either be a liability to the company. In that case I will leave you behind and move on by myself, or you can watch my back like you have done perfectly well for the past two years. What do you say... partner."

It wasn't my best motivational speech, but it was the best I could come up with in a moment's notice. For added comfort I grabbed a bottle of water sitting on the end table near by and offered it to Queen. The room was quiet except for Queen's heavy breathing which began to slow down slightly as she took in my words. Queen gave me a forced smile before taking the bottle of water from my hands.

"What you going to leave me behind just like that?"

"If. And only if you become a liability."

Queen cracked a joke to lighten the mood for both of us even though she was still shaking.

"Wow, no brotherhood. I thought we were tight."

"Well if you think of this as a video game you might live longer," I replied chuckling as I recalled our experience at the office playing Left 4 Dead with our other team mates, Tex and Taco when we were suppose to be working.

"Last I recall, you always left my ass for dead."

"Then keep up partner."

Queen pouted at my comment as she recalled how I always left her behind in that game when the going got rough. She let out a long sigh as she scratched her hair. Queen's usual morning irritation was returning and that was a good sign. She shrugged her shoulders in a "whatever" fashion before speaking.

"Fine f_ck it. I mean _**YOLO**_ right?"

There were many techniques to cope with situations filled with fear. The most popular method that worked for everyone at the company to procure courage in face of fear was to incite banter between each other and scream out popular but yet stupid catch phrases.

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Tokonosu City-<strong>

**Streets**

**Time: 11:30 Hours Z-Day**

"Everyone! This way! Hurry!" Matsushima screamed as she waved her arms. "Asami hurry! Help the obaa-chan move out of the way! She's too close to them"

Matsushima was directing at the panic struck civilians away from the danger zone by waving her right arm while pointing in the direction of safety with her left. Droplets of sweat were rolling down her forehead. Matsushima panicked when she saw one of _them_ was about to grab a hold of her partner but a short light haired civilian wearing glasses and a pair of headphones hung around his neck kicked the thing away.

After doing so, the man swept the older lady off her foot while Asami attended to other elderly, most likely the older woman's husband. The four made their escape towards Matsushima's direction and away from the clutching hands of _them_. The man carrying the elderly woman stopped in front of Matsushima panting as he spoke.

"Hey police woman! We can't stay out here on the streets! You have any idea where you're leading us?"

"Back to police substation nearby. It should be safer there! Asami! I'll take care of the ojiisan! You lead the civilians back to the substation! Hurry!"

Matsushima took over the role supporting the elderly from Asami as she ran to the front of the group to lead them to safety. As they moved away from the things shambling after them, Matsushima got the attention of the man who came to her partner's rescue.

"Your perseverance under pressure is remarkable. May I ask your name?"

"Tamaru Hiro. It was nothing. I just did what everyone should have done at the time officer..."

"Matsushima. No it was something. Thank you for helping my partner and the elderly."

Upon reaching the corner around the police substation, Matsushima noticed the group of civilians sitting down and resting in attempt to catch their breath from a narrow escape. Matsushima laid the elderly down against the wall as she walked towards Asami who was ahead of everyone else as she peered around the corner.

"Asami. Why aren't these civilians in the substation?"

Asami turned around with tears in her eyes as she struggled to keep her crying inside.

"Matsushima-sempai. They're... they're... they're all dead."

Asami's face sunk into Matsushima's bosom to muffle her cries as she recited the names of their fellow co-workers. Matsushima peered around the corner to get a better understanding of the situation. A small gasp of horror escaped her lips. The substation was ransacked and splattered with blood. Two of her co-workers were being devoured by _them _in broad daylight as their feet twitched from the violent desecration of their bodies. The worst part was that some of _them_ that were feeding on her dead co-workers, were also their other fellow co-workers.

One single thought raced through Matsushima's mind.

_How? How did it get so bad so quickly? Everything was perfectly normal an hour ago. What the hell is going on?_

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Tokonosu City-<strong>

**Cheap and Shady Inn Roof Tops**

**Time: 12:30 Hours Z-Day**

Queen whistled as she looked examined the city with her phone's camera. She was dressed in a attire similar to what she had on last night. Except instead of a white tee-shirt she was wearing her usual black tank-top. Since it was only a business trip, we didn't bring any tactical gear or weapons. They wouldn't have gotten past customs anyways. We only had two Tokarev pistols with a spare magazine per person. We were royally screwed right up the ass on this one.

"It's hell on Earth alright. Every route is a death trap from grid locks to police blockades. Christ, it looks like the *_BQE_* at rush hour from up here. Our part of town is swarming with those things as well boss. And then there is a large group of people trying to cross the bridge closest to us. It's a f_cking slaughter house alright," Queen reported.

(_*BQE* - Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, part of the Interstate 278)_

The map was laid out in front of me on the roof as I crossed out the bridge Queen just mentioned with large red streaks. Our position was marked by a star drawn in a black sharpie. Without looking away from the map I responded.

"I'm guessing you want to join the rest of the lambs?"

"Well, that's a dark way of putting things boss. Why don't we just head to the Yakuza spot? I'm pretty sure we can pick up some firepower over there."

"It's all the way across that bridge. So that's not an option."

Before coming up to the roof to scout the area, I changed out of my blood stained collar shirt and pants into something more casual. My grey colored straight jeans were tucked into tan combat boots, and I had the sleeves rolled up on my black and white checkered flannel. Queen wasn't exactly happy about leaving everything she bought behind, but we had to travel fast and light.

Even if we found some supplies at the inn we had no means of transporting them quietly and efficiently. All we had was a suitcase each, but right now even a small backpack would have been preferable. I hate to admit it, but we were caught with our pants down taking a dump.

The sound of my phone vibrating on the ground caught my attention.

"Alan. I've been trying to get in contact with you for the past hour. What's the sit-rep?"

The sound of the wind blowing fast was heard in the background as Alan answered my question.

"Do you really have to ask? Christmas came early for you buddy. This is the real deal."

"So... how bad is it really? Is there a designated safe house? Extraction? Anything?"

The answer I received from Alan only had me more confused.

"It's just like in the movies. It's global, but the third world countries don't seem to be affected by it at all. But you're not leaving yet! We just picked up a job to extract CIA assets from the city. We're en-route right now to pick you up."

"You must be insane man. How do you expect us to get around with so many of them shambling about? And what do you mean we?"

Loud laughter of all sorts came from the other end of the line. It was a conference call. Alan and Daniel's were the most recognizable. It was the same maniacal laughter in the face of death that I have long forgotten when I was just a rookie. Four years was not a long time, but it was long enough to forget somethings. The laughter stopped and there was a second of silence before Alan asked the final question.

"Jack. How long has it been since you were really in the field? Two years?"

For the past two years I've been lying to myself by playing the role of a business man sealing deals and contracts. The psychopathic laughter that filled my ears over the phone had just rung a bell in my head. My lips cracked into a devilish grin with my canines completely exposed. I responded in a voice I barely recognized as my own. It sounded more like a growl of a rabid dog.

"That won't be a problem. You brought Captain Flowers and Princess Pinkie Pie I hope?"

"Of course I did buddy. You won't be able to work without your tools!"

Queen had overheard my conversation was slightly confused

"Hey boss, you cool?"

"Peachy."

"If you don't mind me asking. Who the f_ck is Captain Flowers? And what the hell was that with the _My Little Pony_ reference?"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

**This chapter was little tricky since I originally wrote it together to be a single chapter, but I thought it was too long. After cutting the chapter in half I found out I didn't like the flow either. So I to piece it back together and that it was time to push forward towards the outbreak. Originally I had the team arrive in the city, but I felt that would be cheating. So I decided to take this chance to set the over all tone for the rest of the team members while going into a little more depth with two of them. This progress will be slow, but if and if a team member dies in the future without fleshing out their characters, then the emotions of pain and loss would be extremely empty and hollow. It's hard to care for some one you barely know, and I feel that the same applies to characters in a story. **

**For those of you still with me, thank you very much for your time, I truly appreciate it.**

**And for those of you who have noticed that Jack has dropped the F-Bomb for the second time in the story, I applaud you. **


	5. Chapter 5 - Dead Down Range

**Chapter Five**

**Dead Down Range**

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Tokonosu International Airport-<strong>

**Time: 10:00 Hours Z-Day**

"You're telling me this is actually your first time flying a plane!" Alan shouted in disbelief.

Earlier, the team was shaking their heads on the tarmac in Roanapur after they realized their only pilot, Marco was out of commission. Then, to everyone's surprise, Taco nonchalantly walked into the pilot's cabin and a moment later the private jet was ready for take off.

Alan face-palmed himself when he remembered Jack had once mentioned Taco knew how to fly a plane. Alan rubbed his chin a the turn of events before saying: "So that's why I hired him."

However, landing at the off shore airport was almost a death trap. The only ones rolling out the red carpet were the infected. Alan was sitting in the co-pilot seat of Mr. Chang's private jet and screaming at Taco, who was trying to guide the plane to safe landing.

Just a few seconds ago, the communications tower asked him to circle around the airport while the SAT snipers cleared the run way. Taco replied saying that he wasn't sure if he could do that at their given altitude, because this was his first time piloting a real aircraft, so he was just going to land it.

Taco smiled back at Alan innocently. "Hey, have some faith! I've done it countless times in the simulators. Except they didn't have _them_ in the way_._"

Alan on the other hand was filled with panic and anger. "Well. You better land this shit right! My partner is back there and I need to get him back to his fiancee!"

The landing was rocky, but they were safe... for now. After coming to a stop, Alan hastily got out of his seat and ran in to the passenger cabin. Upon opening the door, he found the entire team with their heads hung low and screaming into barf bags. Jordwell was the only exception, he was still snoring in his seat with his mouth wide open. Alan checked on his partner Dan who was faring a little better than everyone else.

Dan wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before whispering to Alan. "Don't ever let Taco touch a vehicle, ever again. I think he has the capability to park a car up a tree."

The two partners broke into a small fit of laughter immediately despite that they barely survived a flight piloted by a man with only simulator experience. Their laughter was cut short as Taco made an announcement. The communication tower has requested for everyone on the plane to stay seated. Security teams are on the way to escort them to the main terminal. Alan snickered at the request.

"Well, that's ironic. They're providing security for a team that specializes in providing security!" Alan shouted with a grin as he cocked the hammer back on his heavily modified AK-103 with an ACOG scope.

When it came to guns, Alan looked for two things, durability and reliability. The Kalashnikov Assault Rifles fulfilled those requirements perfectly. Actually almost everyone on the team used some variant of the Kalashnikov rifles that has been modified to their personal taste.

The reason behind the popularity of the weapon with the team along with many other groups was that the rifle was easy to maintain and use. And most importantly, it got the job done while doing it dirt cheap. The rifle was readily available for purchase in the lawless city of Roanapur for just twenty U.S. dollars.

Dan, Hunter, Jack and Queen were the only ones who didn't use the Soviet made weapon. The three men preferred the pricier cost of weapons from more western manufacturers. Dan specifically prefers the AWM sniper rifle made by Accuracy International, but if he ever had the chance, he would dump it for a Barrett M82.

Hunter and Jack preferred weapons made by the Germans, they knew how to make quality products other than craft beer and luxury cars. Hunter totted the newer H&K 416 while Jack continued to use his older G36C that he became very fond of.

Queen on the other hand was fairly simple in her selection of firearms. She only used weapons that allowed her to maneuver easily in close quarters with hampering her overall movement speed. For Queen, if a target was further than a block away, then it wasn't worth wasting bullets on.

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Tokonosu International Airport-<strong>

**VIP Lounge**

**Time: 10:30 Hours**

Rika Minami stood at ease next to her partner Tajima as the darker and shorter man named Alan talked to her commander. His partner, Dan was busy talking to someone over the radio with his mask on. Half an hour ago, Rika and Tajima had been ordered to provide sniper support for the escort team that was going to rescue the passengers on the private jet from _them._

Turns out, the passengers did not need any help at all. The moment the doors of the private jet opened, the passengers jumped out with their creepy ballistic masks and guns blazing as if it was a cheap action movie. The two strangers in the room were the leaders of the newly arrived rag-tag bunch of trigger happy frat boys. They were rowdy, but with those two in the lead, the strange team moved like a military squad in a column formation making their way to the main terminal.

They passed themselves off as security contractors, but they never revealed their reasons for being in Japan. Not a moment later, the commander received an order from top brass that these men were free to go with their weapons. The entire situation obviously fit the description of an "Off the Books" job. Whoever was holding the leash on this team was definitely well embedded within the higher echelons of the government.

While the men appeared to fit the general description of private military contractors, the vibe Rika felt from these men were akin to that of lawless criminals.

Rika sighed. It was one hell of a morning. First she wakes up to a distress call about terrorists at the airport, then they had to deal with _them_ and now these cowboys show up. She was itching for a smoke. The sound of a zippo lighter being flicked several times caught Rika's attention.

Dan was still hunched over the map with a cigarette in his mouth as he scratched his head. He was obviously frustrated as he continued in a fruitless attempt to light his cigarette. Rika walked over to the taller man before clearing her throat. Once she had his attention, she pointed at the "No-Smoking" sign and nodded her head slightly towards the door.

Dan sighed again as he followed Rika out of the VIP lounge. Tajima was about to follow Rika as well, but she stopped him with one hand. She needed a moment alone with the stranger.

* * *

><p>Once the two were alone outside, Rika lit Dan's cigarette while pulling out a Cuban cigar herself. Dan took a deep drag as he leaned his back up against the wall. He gazed at the purple haired woman from the corner of his eyes.<p>

"I thought you said we can't smoke here?"

Rika sat lazily on the ground with her legs stretched out while puffing her cigar. She looked up at the taller man before answering him in English.

"I think we have bigger things to worry about than a no-smoking policy. I was dying for one myself, and it would have been rude of me to do so in front of the commander."

Dan let out another sigh as he gazed at the scene outside the terminal windows. If there was hell on Earth, then this was it.

"Finding our city distasteful?" Rika asked in attempt to start some small talk hoping that it would make the stranger more approachable so that he may reveal some more information about himself and his team.

"Far from it. It's been years since I've been in such a civilized place, although I'm sure it's seen better days," Dan said answering her question. "I know you didn't lead me out here for just a smoke either. I guess it doesn't matter much if I satisfy your curiosity right now. I'm sure by the end of the week, most of the world will be walking corpses."

Rika sat in silence waiting for the foreigner to continue. He had stopped talking for a moment to take another pull from his cancer stick.

"We're private contractors, but our usual workday consist of transporting and providing security for contraband. We're here to extract some high value scientists or whoever's from their homes." Dan said before pausing to take another drag from his cigarette.

"Our real goal is to simply rescue two of our buddies stuck in this city. We don't really care about the scientists. To us, they're just another pay check without the hazard bonus." Dan concluded his little information bomb on Rika with a shrug.

Rika looked at the taller man who had now dropped into a squat as he closed his eyes and scratched his head again. Private military contractors still had to play by the books, but these guys are more along the lines of 'guns for hire'. Rika sighed, she wasn't going to get off this island air port anytime soon and it's not like there was anyone else available for the job.

"Hey. Can you do me a favor?" Rika asked as she began to began to unzip the top part of her *_BDU*_.

(_*BDU* - Battle Dress Uniform)_

Dan's gaze shifted to Rika's chest as he took in her womanly charms confined by a white sports bra for a second before coming to his senses. "Hey miss. You're great looking and all, but I have a fiancee waiting for me back at home."

"That's a shame. I do have a thing for jerks and bad boys." Rika replied in a teasing demeanor before changing her tone to a more serious one. "If you bump into this person while you're in the city. Can you ask her to call me? If possible can you keep her safe as well?"

Dan looked at the picture on the phone Rika had pulled out. It was a Japanese woman with blonde hair, but most of the photo was taken up by her enormous chests.

"Eh, I can't promise you anything. She's not a part of our job and we have our own priorities. However, if one of us does bump into her, we'll let relay the message," Dan said before pulling his mask down in a visor like fashion.

Rika stared at Dan's sudden confusing actions as he stared at the picture with his ballistic mask.

"Tech. You getting this?" Dan said aloud as he tapped his in-ear receiver.

Although the noise was barely audible, Rika was still able to ear the person on the other end in the quiet hall way.

"I got it Dan. I'll update your masks with her as an optional objective. We don't work for free, so remember to collect a down payment. Oh and ask her if those are real."

Rika laughed at person's request from the other line before she leaned in close to Dan. "Those, are very real. I've felt them myself." Rika whispered. "Now, as for your payment, I suppose money won't mean a thing in this current situation."

"I'd ask her to let you fondle her boobs," the voice on the other line blatantly suggested.

"I don't plan to die at my own wedding if she finds out. I'll take one of those instead. I've never had Cubans before," Dan said with a chuckle before pointing at Rika's half smoked cigar.

"Hey, I was just being pragmatic given the situation. Tech, out." The audible click at the end meant that the transmission was cut.

Dan pushed his mask back up as Rika dug out another Cuban and offered it to the man with a smile.

"You can still fondle them. If you're a better shot than me." Rika said with a grin on her face.

"I said it earlier. Not interested." Dan replied taking the cigar.

Rika laughed at Dan's nonchalant response before she started to drive the conversation towards her real motive.

"Oh, but I am. I saw those shots you landed earlier on the run way. I've never seen anyone shoot that fast and accurate with a sniper rifle before."

Rika's eyes narrowed as she stared deeply into Dan's dull eyes. "So, who are you? Really?"

Dan returned her gaze as his dull eyes narrowed as well. "In our line of work. People who ask too many questions don't live long."

The door to the VIP room flung open as Alan stormed into the hall and noticed how close Dan and Rika were to each other. He stared at his partner before sighing.

"Well I guess it can't be helped. We have an hour before transport arrives to take us into the city. So until then, do whatever partner. I won't tell your fiancee."

After Alan finished his sentence, he turned on his heels and began to walk down the hall. His hands were stuffed in the pockets of his jeans like a young boy who was caught drawing on the the blackboard with crayon. Dan started to get up, but he paused for a second before he whispered just loud enough for Rika to hear.

"We'll probably have to clear a way to the transport. So keep your eyes open."

A smile crept across Rika's lips as Tajima approached her. "Oi! Rika! What was that about?"

Rika got off the floor, dusting herself off as she did so. "It was nothing partner. But, we might be able to see something interesting real soon."

* * *

><p>There was still fifteen minutes before the transport for the mysterious team arrived. Rika was already in position with her H&amp;K PSG-1 deployed on it's bi-pod. Her partner Tajima had run off to use the men's room, so Rika laid on top of the airport roof alone. The sound of boots on metal caught her attention as she looked to the right to see who was approaching her. It was Dan with his partner's M110 sniper rifle in his hands as he got down into a prone position next to her and deployed the bi-pod.<p>

Dan didn't even look at Rika before he chambered a round and flipped the safety on the weapon off. Rika continued to stare at Dan for his sudden action. The man laid there on his belly, waiting. His gaze never left the scope of the weapon.

"Five targets, eight hundred meters. Next to the yellow luggage carrier." Dan said breaking the silence.

Rika peered through the scope again as she scanned the run way for the infected Dan was referring to. "Targets acquired."

"I met a guy right after leaving New York for Roanapur. He was a **U.S.M.C. **scout sniper rotting away in that city after a dishonorable discharge from his unit. My partner and I were new in town and the three of us were chasing the same bounty. So we decided to team up for a while. He was the one who taught me how to use a sniper rifle; however what I am about to show you is something completely unorthodox and not recommended."

The two snipers laid on their bellies in silence again. They were waiting for the ideal moment. Rika kept her focus on the targets Dan had pointed out. She heard faint sounds of Dan's faint breathing as he brought it to a slow pace. The moment the light breeze came to a stop, Rika heard Dan take a single breath before five consecutive shots were fired and every target dropped. Then, Dan finally let his breath out.

_"No way! He fired five times back to back in one single breath! And he hit every one of them!" _Rika thought to herself with her eyes wide open in shock as she shifted her gaze to the sniper next to her.

His face was strained in pain while he was breathing heavily. It was then when Rika saw it. Dan's trigger finger never moved after he fired for the fifth time. It was frozen in place.

"Five is my limit. As I said, it's unorthodox, and extremely risky. This method of shooting is a double edged sword. I've lost complete control of my right hand right now. It won't be moving for few minutes. It's completely frozen." Dan said as he looked at Rika with a weak smile. "I'm letting you know this. From one sniper to another. Your aim will also suffer after each shot. Only use this technique in the worst case scenario."

Both Dan and Rika's radios squelched to life with questions about the recently fired shots. Rika reported it as Dan readjusting his scope. The speck in the distance that resembled a **J.S.D.F. **black helicopter was approaching. The commander let out a grunt before announcing that he will allow the issue of unauthorized discharge of a firearm slide. Right now they had to secure the ground for landing.


	6. Chapter 6 - Dead Link and Break

**Foreword: **

**This chapter is based on the scene from Episode 4 of the anime and Chapter 4 of the manga. It is the scene when Takashi and Rei are on the motorcycle and stop for a moment in front of a store named Pengindo before investigating a crushed patrol car where they find the police issued revolver. However this takes place several hours before their arrival since the anime states "[Z-day+1 00:23 a.m.]." **

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Six<strong>

**Dead Link and Break**

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Tokonosu City-<strong>

**Seven Eleven near Pengindo Store**

**Time: 16:00 Hours Z-Day**

The orange glow of sunset had settle over the city. Dan was nicely settled in on the deck of roof. He sat in brown and beige color lawn chair while drinking a bottle of Sam Adams. Dan's legs were stretched out in front of him with his heels at the top of the red brick roof guard. In between his legs was his prized AWM sniper rifle loaded with_ .338 Lapua Magnum_ rounds and custom painted with urban camouflage. The stock of the weapon rested on the deck of the roof while the bi-pod was still deployed on the roof guard with the barrel pointed up in the air.

A nice warm breeze of summer air brushed against Dan's face as he rested his eyes. He was nodding his head to the beat of a trance song playing from his iPod when his in-ear receiver for his radio squelched to life. Alan, who was downstairs with another team mate named Rookie called in for a sit-rep.

"All I see from up here is dead people Alan. When was our last contact with Jack and Queen?"

"Almost three hours ago before we lost connection."

"How are things downstairs?"

"Manageable. Barricade won't hold if we get swarmed with a horde of _them_. We also made some cup noodles. Want one?"

"That would be great. Thanks."

The radio went quiet again. Dan leaned forward from his original sitting position and picked up his rifle again to scan the area through it's scope. He had it set so that he can shoot up to 1500 meters, but it wasn't like he had to anyways in this situation. The less noise they made the better.

Dan's team, Team Two had been waiting for Jack and Queen to arrive at the designated location. Team One on the other hand, was comprised of six contractors and they had decided to call themselves _The Wolfpack. _They proceeded to carry out their mission in the city to extract CIA personnel; however, the mission was damned from the start.

Once inside the city, they had no form of transportation. They were lucky to find a mini-van and a black Mercedes-Benz sedan after traversing two blocks. The entire plan went to shit. Noise attracts them, and there was no way in hell a mini-van would be able to get through a horde of _them. _Driving around the city turned out to take longer than just legging it. _Wolfpack_ had split into their respective two man battle teams to speed up the search on foot. The faster they got the job done, the faster they got out of this infested city. In the mean time, Dan's team idled at a badly fortified seven-eleven.

The door to the roof opened as Alan walked towards Dan with chicken flavored cup noodles in his hand. After handing Dan his meal, Alan sat down with his back against the roof guard before he noticed a six pack with two empty bottles. Alan grinned at his partner who smiled sheepishly back at him.

"Drinking on the job?"

"What else am I supposed to do? Relax, it's not like I'll get drunk off of this piss." Dan replied as he tossed his half finished bottle of beer away.

"No, you're right." Alan agreed as he reached over and grabbed a bottle himself before twisting the cap off. He then squelched his radio and ordered their last team mate to come up and join them on the roof.

The kid came up with his meal in hand with a small look of confusion on his face. "You called boss?"

Alan lit a cigarette up before he answered the kid nonchalantly. "Take a seat and grab yourself a beer Rookie. From the looks of things, we're not going anywhere any time soon."

Everyone called him Rookie at the company because he was the newest hire. It was tradition for the latest hire to be assigned that name. The kid reminded Alan and Dan of their friend Jack when he first joined up. Fresh, full of energy, loyal to a fault. The way he reacted was almost similar. Rookie was taken by surprise from Alan's order and started to stutter but Dan cut him off.

"Listen to the man Rook. Gotta relax while you still can," Dan said before turning to Alan. "Kind of takes you back a bit huh? When Jack was still a rookie?"

"Tell me about it. I'm having a sense of Deja-vu. Jack's first job with us was a complete shit-storm. And now, here we are again." Alan replied chuckling.

Dan let out a small burp as he finished his little meal. Without a second thought, he just tossed the soup-filled container behind him as the liquid splatter out on the roof. Littering was the least of his concerns. Dan pulled out a cigarette from his pack of Marlboro Menthol Lights before lighting it up with a black _Bic_ lighter he had looted from the store. Alan already had one hanging loosely off his lips as he had his eyes closed. Dan grunted as he stood up and stretched before kicking his partner in the leg.

"Scoot. I gotta go drain the pipe."

Alan kept his eyes closed and responded with a middle finger. Dan chuckled as he walked over to the corner of the roof and started to relieve himself while staring at the highway that entered into the street they were on. His cigarette nearly slipped from his mouth when he saw two figures cut around the corner in a frantic dash. They were pretty far out and the figures were hazy.

"Contact left. Two live ones," Dan said aloud as he tried to quickly finish his business.

Alan's eyes shot open as he stood up and slung the M110 sniper rifle from his back into his hands before peering through the scope and speaking. "They're too far out. Dan see if you can confirm."

Dan brought the dangling binoculars which hung from his neck to his eyes. "They're about 1000 meters out. A man and a woman, dressed lewdly I might add. Can't see their faces so I can't be positive. Wait a minute." Dan's eyes widened when he saw what the two were running from. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Is that a... F_ck me running," Alan stammered as he noticed a sea of infected shambling behind the two figures.

Dan was still peering through the binoculars when he saw the flare of muzzle flashes. The woman had stopped to fire at the infected. The man kept running but when he realized woman still standing there, he ran back and tossed her over his shoulders kicking and screaming as she fired both pistols at the infected.

Suddenly, a thought crossed Dan's mind. _Two pistols! Of course! _Dan let the binoculars drop to his chest as he ran back to pick up his AWM sniper rifle. Alan was caught off guard at Dan's abrupt motion before his eyes narrowed upon registering the reason behind his partner's actions.

"Rookie! Get the car and go pick those two idiots up. We're done waiting," Alan barked before flicking his cigarette off the roof. The kid responded with a nod as he tossed his meal away and bounded straight for the roof door.

* * *

><p><em><strong>PO-CHUNK!<strong>_

The sound of a .338 Lapua Magnum bullet being fired from the AWM rifle echoed throughout the city, even with an suppressor attached. Dan quickly pulled the bolt lever back, loading another round into the chamber. Before he can pull the trigger again, Dan felt a hand on his right shoulder. Alan had taken up a sniping position right next to him before asking for confirmation.

"You're positive it's them?"

"A girl with two pistols and a temper. On top of that, a sea of _them _that looks completely pissed off? Sounds exactly like a someone we know," Dan said as he took aim again and started to fire shot after shot consecutively, pulling back the bolt lever each time.

_**PO-CHUNK! PO-CHUNK! PO-CHUNK! PO-CHUNK!**_

"Loading!" Dan screamed as he ejected the magazine from his rifle to slap a fresh one in.

During this time while Dan was reloading, Alan started to put rounds down range from his weapon. Once Alan heard Dan pull back the bolt lever he stopped firing to look at his partner. "You got this partner?"

"Yeah. Go get everything ready. We're going to need to haul ass out of here soon."

* * *

><p>"Queen stop firing!" I screamed as I turned back around to get my partner away from the mob of infected.<p>

Queen and I had been evading contact with the infected for the past three hours. What should have been a half an hour trip ended up way longer than what we expected. It was detour after detour. In between waiting and running, we took several breaks as well to catch our breaths. Yet, no matter how much we ran or hid, they always seemed to find us.

After running for an extended period of time, Queen had finally lost her patience when our objective was a few blocks away. She discharged her weapons to clear a path. It was a mistake as well as a learning experience. After she fired both of her Tokarevs at the infected in front of us, the rest of _them_ around us simply stopped their shambling and looked in our direction before shambling towards our position. It was then I realized that _they_ hunted by sound.

Queen's blood lust always shot through the roof once she got into the heat of the moment. Queen wasn't listening as one of the Tokarev's clicked empty. I cursed under my breath as I ran towards my partner and tossed her over my shoulders. For someone so small she was a big nuisance sometimes. This moment right now would be a prime example with her kicking and screaming. The audible click of the Tokarev signaled that her other pistol was empty. In a scream of rage Queen chucked both pistols at the infected.

I was running as quick as I can with Queen on my shoulder but there was one of _them_ hiding the darkness of a side street nearby. As the thing lurched forward to grab us, I heard something familiar, but out of place. Before I could even duck for safety after I registered what the noise was, the infected toppled over as it's brain matter splattered onto the asphalt.

Four more shots followed after that. Each one hitting their mark. Without missing a beat the sound of another rifle rang out from the same direction. This one was not suppressed nor were the shots as accurate. A grin formed on my face as I realized who was covering us._ Daniel, Alan, you magnificent bastards._

"Queen have you calmed down a bit?" I asked while running towards the stronghold in the shape of a seven-eleven.

"I'm still pissed, but you can put me down now," she replied shyly admitting defeat.

As I put Queen down on the ground, I heard the screeching tires of a black sedan gunning towards us. Nodding to each other, we took off in a sprint to cover some distance ourselves. The car skidded into a stop in front of us as Queen shoved me aside and screamed: "SHOTGUN!"

"Rookie? Nice ride kiddo. I never rode in a Benz before. If we weren't in this situation I would think that you're taking me out on a date. And I do a lot more than a kiss on the first date," Queen said teasingly as her hands reached towards Rookie's waist.

I snickered at Queen's quick mood change before screaming at her and Rookie. "Now's not the time to be flirting you bipolar bitch. Rookie. Drive!" I slammed the door shut and a moment later the infected began to decorate the windows with their bloody hands.

Rookie nodded from under his ballistic mask as he switched his right foot from the brake pedal to the acceleration. I was staring out the rear window when I thought I heard what sounded like Rookie swallowing a lump in his throat. I looked back out of curiosity just to see the Queen's upper body leaned over Rookie's crotch.

"Queen! Now's not the time to be distracting the driver you slut!" I screamed at my partner.

Queen ignored me as she let out sounds of moaning and grunting while muttering, "hold on. Almost there. Got it!"

In one swift motion Queen retracted from her position over Rookie's crotch while brandishing his Glock 18C in her right hand and a toothy grin on her face. She lowered the power windows of the passenger side before sticking her upper body out of the window firing back at the infected. Queen's psychotic and gleeful laugh filled my ears. I should have known that it was too early for her anger to die down.

* * *

><p>The vehicle came to a stop slightly past the seven-eleven as Alan rushed towards us in his full combat gear. He was moving a lot slower than usual and then I noticed his giant backpack was waving left and right from the amount of gear that he carried. The sound of Dan's rifle fire had stopped as well.<p>

Queen handed Rookie his sidearm back as he pointed his thumb towards the rear of the car. "Your gear's in the trunk."

Queen and I both gave him a nod of acknowledgement before the three of us exited the car swiftly. While Queen and I headed for the trunk, Rookie reloaded his weapon before securing the perimeter of the vehicle on the driver's side. Alan eventually reached our location huffing and panting. He turned around as he took a knee to cover the rear of our position as well as Dan's escape from the seven-eleven.

"About time you two go here. You guys stopped for take out or did you go to a nice fancy restaurant instead."

Queen answered his question with a insult directed at me.

"Jack had to drop a big one. Nearly got us killed didn't it you shit head."

Alan laughed before coming to my defense.

"Miss. Jack eats whatever **_you_** feed him. I mean, judging from the amount of pissed off natives, it probably stank like hell to have them that riled up."

I was too busy putting on my black combat vest to even care about the little banter. Alan had already loaded everything for me. All the magazines for my rifle and sidearm were already placed in their respective slots as well as the M87 frag grenades. My old trusty machete that has gotten me through many bloody skirmishes in rat infested streets of Chinatown was strapped in a scabbard on my back as well.

"Alan. You are the best friend a man can ask for. Everything is loaded already," I said offering my thanks for his preparation.

"No problem. Just hurry it up. I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to."

Queen was already suited up fully since her equipment was fairly simple. Two Beretta 92FS pistols, a Steyr TMP with a custom stock and red dot sight, a vest full of 9mm magazines and a backpack full of 9mm bullets along with other outdoor camping necessities. However, there was frown on her face as she searched around the trunk as if she was missing something.

"Hey Alan." Queen called out to him in her cutest whiny voice while purposefully dragging out the last letter of his name. "I thought you said you would let me play with **_Big Dong_**_. _Well, where the hell is he?"

"Oh sorry. He's in my pack. I'll give it to you later when we're not in the open anymore."

Queen let out a whiny moan before stomping her feet twice like a child. I let out a small laugh as I observed the scene. After her little performance, Queen covered her face with her own personal ballistic mask, painted pearl white with a single crimson streak coming down like tears on each side. As I strapped the holster which held my USP tactical pistol to my left thigh I pondered the name **_Big Dong_**.

I know I heard that name some where and then I realized the reason why Alan was moving so slowly earlier. That maniac brought his toys that make things go boom. Recently Alan had purchased a XM25 grenade launcher from the nuns at the _Rip Off Church_ in Roanapur. When he brought it back to the office with a toothy grin on his face, he introduced it as _**Big Dong**_. And it wasn't just Queen. Everyone wanted to play with _**Big Dong**_.

"For f_ck's sake Jack, you get dressed like a woman. Dan's here so hurry it up. Fashion show is over!" Alan shouted at me over his shoulder while keeping his focus on the incoming infected.

"Hey, hey! Mr. Flower's is very delicate. I have to put him on carefully!" I screamed back while snapping the buckles of a homemade grassy green colored fanny pack with white daisy decorations in place on my waist.

"Seriously. That hippie thing on your butt is Mr. Flowers? Then who the f_ck is Pinkie Pie?" Queen asked in disbelief while keeping her TMP focused on the incoming infected.

I ignored her cries of hysteria again as I reached into the trunk and pulled out a G36C equipped with a EOTech Holo Sights and a fore grip. I nicknamed the weapon Pinkie Pie after Alan and Dan pulled one of their usual stupid pranks. They thought I would be pissed after they covered my dull rifle with neon pink spray paint in a haphazard fashion. To their surprise I loved the new paint job. Queen looked at my weapon with her right index pointing as she raised her ballistic mask back up. Her mouth was agape in disbelief as I gave her a cheesy grin.

"That... that... that ugly piece of shit is _PINKIE PIE!? _Jack, you bastard, how dare you disgrace the name of one of my favorite characters from _My Little Pony_! Get over here so I can carve your ass in to four pieces!"

Queen was marching towards me to give me a beating when Rookie screamed. "Holy shit! Truck incoming from the front! Everyone scramble!"

Queen's march turned into a mad dash before she tackled me onto the ground. A 24 foot long truck pushing a patrol car with two screaming police officers inside slammed into our vehicle. The force of the impact sent our vehicle flying down the block.

* * *

><p>I grunted as Queen's weight slowly left my body.<p>

"Ow. You alright partner?" Queen asked with her face contorted in a painful expression.

"My back would've felt a lot better if it was your boobs cushioning my fall," I replied with a groan as both of my hands gave her chest a squeeze through her combat vest.

Queen ignored my actions as she sat up on top of me and turned around to observe the wreckage. The truck had plowed the patrol car straight into the side of the seven-eleven. The officer's inside laid dead with their eyes open and faces frozen in terror. The truck driver was unharmed as he began to moan and struggle in the cab. He was already one of _them_. My ear piece crackled to life as Alan asked for a status report over the radio.

Queen was rubbing her head as she answered Alan's question.

"Well, my tits are still intact and Jack never had genitals to start with, so we're fine. What about you guys?"

"We're good. Rookie and Dan are still with me on the other side of the truck. Listen, Tech updated the *HUD* on your ballistic masks. All the information on our mission objectives are uploaded. So head towards the closest one. We'll rendezvous at the designated **LZ** three days from now. Stay alive buddy!" Alan shouted over the radio before gunfire from their rifles erupted.

_(*HUD*- Heads Up Display)_

* * *

><p>I pulled down my ballistic mask painted with a yellow smiley face. From the outside, the ballistic masks which everyone at the company had looked like regular masks with an extravagant paint job. However, these things were one hell of a technological marvel. They made their first appearance on the battlefield with <strong>S.S.C.<strong> **(Security and Strategy Corporation) **contractors in 1994. However, a year before the company went under in 2009, Tech received the schematics of **S.S.C.'s** prized ballistic masks.

The technology was already there, and all we had to do was tinker with it. While our company does not have the massive amount of funding that the big boys have, it does not mean we are not resourceful. When I was still a rook, one of the original six founders was a metal specialist. He was in charge of the hardware, while Tech was in charge of the software.

After testing the initial prototype the two were not satisfied. They said the original HUD had too much going on at once and there were issues with real time information failing to update. After testing the masks myself I suggested to overhaul the HUD from using *AR* technology. The new AR design I came up with utilized point cloud with integrated GPS.

_(*AR* - Augmented Reality)_

The design was not particularly new either. The US military has been researching and testing it for training combat personnel. Like I said, we were resourceful. The team might have been formed by a bunch of rat-tag gutter rats, but we were not completely stupid or oblivious to technological advances. War never changes, but the tools do.

The interior of my mask lit up in a dim blue hue after I hit the power switch located at the bottom rim of my mask. As marvelous and handy as the technology was, the interior battery had a life span of only four hours if kept on in full operation. It operated at a maximum of twelve hours if only on standby. After the batteries were drained it would have to charge for another six hours. After all, technology can only take you so far as a tool. A level head and smart thinking is what will keep you alive in the end.

* * *

><p>I gave Queen's breasts another squeeze to get her attention. "Hey you mind getting off of me? You been sitting there for a while."<p>

"What? You don't like having a girl sitting with her legs open on top of you?" Queen teased me through her mask before obliging my request.

"Ever try running with a stiffy?" I asked while checking my weapons.

"Stop acting like you have one. Everyone knows I wear the pants in this partnership," Queen replied before slapping my rear end and moving in front of me. "I'll take point."

I could only shake my head and laugh before following her lead. This job might take a while.


	7. Chapter 7 - Yesterday Was Easy

**Chapter Seven**

**Yesterday Was The Only Easy Day Among The Dead**

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Tokonosu City-<strong>

**Two Story House Overlooking Shaun Gas Station**

**Time: Z-Day + 1, 03:20 Hours**

Queen shuddered as the cold night air cut into her skin while she laid prone on the second floor balcony. She was watching the area with a pair of compact binoculars. The multiplier range wasn't far compared to Dan's over sized binoculars.

After their escape from the seven-eleven stronghold yesterday they had encounter a fairly small number of infected. She had yet to fire a bullet at them since Jack deemed it unnecessary to create noise which seems to attract _them. _However she had almost filled a living person full of bullet holes earlier when they were securing the building they now took shelter in.

As Queen recalled the incident she had to restrain herself from giggling. Some dead beat thug dressed in a over size black tee-shirt and yellow shorts while sporting a white fitted baseball cap thought it was wise to bring a knife to a gun fight. The goon tried to sneak up on her from behind while she was having a smoke outside the building.

The thug froze in shock when she whipped out her Beretta and pointed it at his direction. Queen remembered her exact words from earlier when she turned around and gave the goon a cheery smile.

"Hey buddy, I haven't been able to release any stress since this shit-storm started. If you want to help me with my ordeal I would greatly appreciate it. I dare you. Make my day. I don't mind."

It was obvious that there was a problem with communication since she was speaking English and he responded in Japanese. However from the way the goon sounded as he was inching his way towards her, it seemed like he was trying to call her bluff about shooting him. He understood that noise attracts _them. _

The problem was not that Queen won't shoot him, she just didn't want to go on a whole new search for a place to rest. Queen was about to pull the trigger too but the familiar sound of Jack's voice saying clear as he came out of the house solved everything.

It was evident that the goon had already lost his mind. It was visible in his eyes. They were wide and his pupils were completely dilated. He was completely controlled by fight or flight instincts at this point. The image of Jack stepping out of the house with a demented smiley face mask on his face and a bloody machete in one hand was enough to make the goon shit his pants. Queen giggled as the fool immediately turn-tailed and ran screaming something they didn't understand. He was probably cursing them.

Queen shivered again from the cold before she got up from her prone position and headed indoors to grab a blanket. Jack was snoring lightly on the bed, but he had kicked the blankets off. A smile escaped Queen's lips as she examined her partner's sleeping figure.

Jack had feelings for her once. It was normal for those feelings to develop after spending a copious amount of time in each other's comfort, but she couldn't return those feelings at the time. Maybe in a few years or maybe never. She had always viewed him as a close friend, but almost never a lover.

Jack was easy going at the time and he didn't let the rejection affect him or their friendship. The man simply shrugged his shoulders and moved on. After a while Queen finally noticed a change in the man. Although he continued to demonstrate care and concern for her well-being, and under all those warm smiles and jokes, she knew something had happened.

He was hiding something. The casual and nonchalant demeanor served as a front. Something lurked in the dark recesses of Jack's mind that she can in no way shape or form comprehend. She could only feel the icy touch of it's invisible tendrils reaching out every now and then. Just like that moment when they were meeting with the Yakuza representative. The feeling was more sinister than any criminal in Roanapur. Whatever Jack was hiding from her, it definitely smelled rotten.

Queen's smile quickly turned into a concerned frown as she picked up the blanket and covered her partner's sleeping form. Despite all of this, she would not have any one else watching her back in any situation, nor would she have anyone else watching his back except for her. She owned him a debt that no one else knew besides the two of them.

When she was in her darkest moments of her life filled with guilt, self-conflict, self-hate, self-destruction, and seconds away from suicide, it was a bright eyed and gullible young man who understood her and pulled her out of the room that was forever filled with night and into the rays of day light. His cheesy words at the time was what sealed the deal.

He said: "I have a pocket full of sunshine. I can share it with you if you'll become mine."

Of course that was a joke and he purposefully turned the lyrics from a song into a terrible pick up line. Queen sighed as she opened the cabinet and pulled out a clean light blanket to cover herself but instead of wrapping the blanket around her, she slapped herself on the forehead instead.

How could she have been so clueless. The familiar icy and sinister feeling that was emitting from Jack was too familiar. Queen picked up the light blanket again and walked towards the balcony door. Before she exited she looked back at Jack's sleeping form once more and she smiled. It was her turn to pull Jack out of the ditch this time. This time, she will repay her debt.

The sound of a dirt bike in a distance brought Queen to her knees instinctively in front of the balcony door. She can't exit now otherwise whoever was on that bike might see her. Bringing the binoculars to her eyes, Queen peered through the lenses as she tried to make out the figures in the dark.

Queen cursed herself mentally for being stingy and not purchasing the ones with night vision. Queen was readjusting the dials on the binoculars to get a better view when two arms wrapped around her as the blankets fell down slowly covering their figures.

* * *

><p>"Caught you off guard partner," I said in a sleepy voice. The sound of a dirt bike had disrupted my sleep.<p>

"Geez, Jack. You're always horny when you wake up. Now get your stiffy away from my butt. I'm working here," Queen growled at my harassment.

"Sorry, it's genetics," I said jokingly as I gave her breasts a nice firm squeeze which I shouldn't have because Queen returned the favor with a vice like grip on her own on my genitals. Changing my tone to something more serious I asked, "what do you see?"

"A guy and a girl, probably high school students. Orange dirt bike. Looks like they stopped for gas. How they survived this long sure beats me, but the kid made a mistake of leaving her out there alone," Queen reported without emotion. "Oh... argh... son of a bitch. I know I should'v shot that punk."

I knew who Queen was referring to. It was the goon from earlier in the day. After we had scared him off the first time I barricaded the doors to the house with furniture as an extra precaution. While Queen was sleeping when I had first watch, I saw him sneaking around the outside. So I decided to go downstairs and while he was struggling with the door knob I simply ejected and reinserted my pistol mag as loud as I could before I heard him running off again.

"Jack. I don't like this," Queen said as she handed me the binoculars.

As I peered through the lenses I let out a low whistle.

"Holy shit. Check out the fun bags."

Queen responded to my remark from underneath me.

"You men are all the same, but I'm just as guilty. Her tits were the first thing I was staring at too. What the hell are they feeding girls at school these days?"

I chuckled at her comment before asking if she was jealous, with which she responded that having breasts as big as those would only get in the way.

"Well. We're not being paid to uphold public safety. Under normal circumstances, this won't be our problem, but they're making too much noise," I said before handing the binoculars back to Queen.

Queen hissed when the bat the teenage boy tossed away clattered onto the ground. The damn thing echoed so loud that there was no way in hell those things didn't hear that. I tossed the blankets off of us immediately as I started to gear up and Queen immediately followed the suit.

"Son of a bitch. So much for thinking it was going to be easy," Queen cursed under her breath while donning her combat vest.

"The only easy day was yesterday partner," I said grimly while checking my rifle.

Queen growled as her anger returned again.

"Hey boss. Since they already made so much noise. You mind if I shoot that f_cker that's causing us so much trouble? I've had it with him."

"Knock yourself out."

Queen grinned as she flipped her mask down and started out the bedroom door towards the staircase. I checked the bedroom again to make sure we hadn't left anything behind before I walked out myself. Queen was already dismantling the makeshift barricade in front of the door when I got downstairs. Then a single shot rang out in the dead of the night.

Our time just ran out.

I rushed towards the door to speed up the process of dismantling the barricade as the noise of the dirt bike revving reached our ears. Queen threw a fit of curses.

"Well. Just ring the dinner bell why don't you? F_cking brats."

"You're not that much older than they are Queen."

"Well, I'm not as stupid as they are! Shit!"

Queen was royally ticked off at the moment and talking with her was not going to make anything better. At times like these, it's better to let her cool off by herself. Once the furniture was out of the way, Queen burst out the door with both her pistols leveled in opposite directions.

"Clear."

Queen was at her best when she was angry, but the definition of retreat was lost in the midst of her anger. I gave her a pat on the shoulder to tell her to move up. As we entered the street, she covered our right flank while I took the left. No problems so far. The sound of the goon screaming at the gas station was creating so much noise that he was begging to be eaten alive.

Queen raised her mask as she observed the scene of _them_ devouring the goon.

"Look's like the kids shot him and left him as a parting gift for our friends here. Sick as it may be, I like their style," I said under my mask while letting out a chuckle.

"Would've done the same myself. Come on let's move. I'll take point," Queen said in agreement before she lowered her mask again.

* * *

><p>Queen and I continued to move north in the early hours of the morning as the sun rose. As the morning rays became stronger, we became bolder in our movements. We were on a clock to secure CIA assets and we had to reach them before something else did. The closer we got to one of the objective's house, the more of <em>them <em>laid dead on the floor. All of them had a bullet hole that exited through the back of their heads.

Queen stood up from the ground with a spent bullet casing in her hand.

"All 5.56mm," Queen said as she rolled the casing around.

"It can't be **J.S.D.F.** They would be some where else more important than in suburban street like this. Can't be the Japanese police either, since they use .38 specials for their revolvers. That only leaves two choices," I said while rubbing my chin.

"It's either the cow boys on the news from yesterday, or it's one of our teams," Queen said as she loaded a fresh magazine into her TMP and gave me a grin.

"Well, we can't know for sure since the battery on our masks went out. Let's keep moving," I said as I carefully stepped over the dead bodies.

I looked over to my partner, her shit eating grin along with her narrowed eyes told me one thing.

"You're hoping it isn't our team mates are you?" I asked.

"What do you mean? Of course I'm hoping it's our team mates!"

"That shit eating grin on your face and the way your clutching your gun is telling me something else," I responded casually.

I knew she was pulling my leg.

"Ok, you got me boss." Queen said as she admit her guilt before taking off in a sprint.

"You're hoping for a fire fight aren't you." I said huffing and puffing after catching up to her.

"Yep."

"I hate you."

"You know you love me."

Our little banter ended with Queen having the last say as we approached the target building. Dead bodies laid on the ground all over the front gate which was wide open. As Queen and I entered the front lawn, we noticed more bodies on the grass and a whole lot of them were piled up in front of the windows. The scene was very much like what we encounter on the block earlier with spent bullet casings every where. The front windows were broken and furniture was shoved in front of them as make shift barricades.

I gave Queen a nod as we slowly approached the front door. If humans were to attack this position, it would be from the back, and that is where there will most likely be a booby trap as simple as a trip wire. Going through the front wasn't particularly safe either, but from the look of things, it seems like the defenders believed that all frontal attacks would come from _them_.

Queen was positioned to the left of the door while I was on the right. I gave Queen a nod as she slowly put her hands on the door knob and began to turn. What I didn't expect was that the defenders will come out rushing at us. The moment Queen turned the door knob in the slightest, they kicked the door open and rushed out.

One of them knocked Queen down onto the ground while the other slammed me against the wall as I grabbed his wrist and wrestled the barrel of his pistol away from my head. Everything happened in a blur that it took everyone a second to recognize who the threat was.

A familiar voice with a British accent called out from where Queen laid on the ground with her TMP aimed at the assailant.

"Didn't you Yanks learn to knock? See I told you to lock the door Jordwell. This isn't Canada."

"Bloody hell Hunter. Stop poking my tits with your rifle," Queen responded a few feet away as I heard her slap the barrel of Hunter's gun away before getting up off the grass.

My attacker carefully let me go as he holstered his pistol, before giving me a smile and a pat on my shoulder.

"Sorry about that boss," the man named Jordwell apologized with a slight Albanian accent.

"Well come on in lassies. We got coffee," Hunter said with a wave of his arm while walking back into the house.

While patting the dust off my clothes I called Hunter a cheeky bastard in a voice loud enough so he can hear it from inside the house.

"Says the yank who just got caught with his knob out."

Like I said. Hunter is one cheeky bastard. Then again, we did hire the guy while playing poker.

* * *

><p>Queen and I both sighed in relief after sipping a nice hot cup of joe while sinking into a comfortable sofa. Our masks lay on the ground charging at a nearby outlet. Jordwell was upstairs at the second story window keeping watch. Jordwell was quiet, and he didn't talk much, but he would always smile politely at someone's jokes, even if it was a terrible one.<p>

Hunter was acting obnoxious as usual. The house was in a terrible condition. It wasn't completely riddle with bullet holes, even though there were a few here and there along with blood splatters, but I didn't see the bodies.

"If you're looking for the bodies Jack, they're out back," Hunter said as if reading my mind.

"So what happened?" I asked before carefully drinking my steaming hot cup of coffee.

Hunter gave me his account of what happened last night while laughing every now and then through the process.

"The bloody wanker shot himself I guess. When Jordy and I arrived, the place was pretty quite. You saw that mess on the block earlier right? That wasn't us mate. There's somebody out there more dangerous than these things or us. I examined the whole area, a bullet for each one of those buggers. Not a single stray shot. Of course by the time we got here the door was open like they were inviting us in for tea."

I'll admit, the Brit does know how to make a sit-rep entertaining.

"Jordy and I swept the first floor clean and proper as you can see, the target's little girl was standing right there, and his lovely wife was over there, and she had some knockers. Shame that the dead bastards got a bite on them," Hunter said as pointed out the bullet holes and blood stains.

"The tricky part was the second floor. The space was so cramped that we had to switch over to our sidearms. All the rooms were clear except for the master bed room. We were expecting the worst. We opened the room and found the target dead on his bed with a hole this big right here." Hunter put his right index finger up to his temple to show us where the target was shot.

"That wasn't all though. We were about to exit the room when some cunt burst out of the in-wall wardrobe. Caught Jordy and I by surprise and she even bit him too."

It was at that point when Queen and I screamed in unison. "SHE BIT HIM!?"

"Aye! But Jordy isn't a bloke, you know that. He got the quick draw on her before her teeth could even break the fabric. The cunt was f_cking naked I tell you. I guess she was the mistress and the two were bonking when the wife and kid came home before turning into those things. Relax mate, we checked for penetration through the skin. The cloth wasn't even punctured so Jordy's fine."

"Does anyone else know about this?" I asked with a grave expression on my face.

Hunter nodded before concluding the conversation.

"I reported everything to Alan already so we're fine. We're getting paid to extract them, but if the buggers off themselves before we get to them, then that's not our problem."

Heavy footsteps coming down the stairs got our attention as Jordwell entered the living room.

"We have movement, several blocks away. Large group of survivors heading for the bridge," Jordwell reported.

Hunter clapped his hands and started to pack up his gear along with Jordwell.

"Well that's our cue. We're going to use the commotion caused with the survivors and try to cross the river and leg it to our next target. All the teams have moved across the river already, but you have one more target further north of here don't you."

"Yeah, some woman in a sunday dress next to a small puppy," I replied.

"I'd bunce that objective off your list right quick if I were you. This side of the city is going to become a feeding ground come tonight. Good luck and don't let the dead wankers get you before you buy us all a pint at the Yellow Flag," Hunter said with a smile before he walked out the door with Jordwell following behind him.

As the door closed with a click, Queen looked at me before kicking back on the couch and closing her eyes. I shrugged before I got up from my seat and moved some furniture in front of the door. It'll have to do for now, and as long as we didn't make any noise, we should be fine. I dragged myself back to the couch before raising Queen's out stretched legs and placed them on top my lap. She was already snoring, both of us were beat from the lack of sleep and all the traveling. Leaning my head back on the couch my eyes closed as my body shut down.


	8. Chapter 8 - Dead and Gone

**Chapter 8**

**Dead and Gone**

* * *

><p><strong>Time: Christmas, 2008-<strong>

**04:00 AM**

**Location: Smith Public Housing, New York City**

"Slowly, slowly. There we go. Omph." I said as I carefully placed my friend Darren on top of the bed couch with my other friend Royce.

Darren had just broken up with his girl friend and he was completely torn apart by the event. Eight hours ago it was Christmas Eve and we were all sitting in the warmth of a red Nissan Quest mini-van smoking a freshly rolled blunt that was packed to the brim with Afghan Gold.

It was Darren's first time getting high with the rest of us but he took deep and long drags. He even held it in for as long as possible. Overdose, one of the original six founding members of the team stared at me with his eyes wide from behind his glasses when I told him later that this was Darren's first time.

"You've got to be shitting me! The way he went at it! I thought he was pro. I was like, dude. This kid can probably out smoke me!" Overdose yelled in excitement after I told him the truth.

* * *

><p>I was sitting at the driver's seat, revving the engine every now and then just to keep the vehicle warm. Even with the heat on full blast, we were all dressed layers of American Eagle hoodies and North Face jackets. I was enjoying the nice buzz I had gotten from a few puffs when Darren asked me for a cigarette. Our lead man of the team, Miko who was riding shotgun next to me stared back at him with his narrow eyes.<p>

"Dude, you know that's only going to get you more f_cked up right?"

"Yeah. Isn't that the point." Darren responded without much thought.

It wasn't a question. It was a statement. The entire mini-van erupted in ohs and ahs that was further complimented with a sound of applause for Darren's bravery. Miko cracked up in laughter as he kicked his legs. I shifted my gaze from Darren to Miko.

"What do you say boss?" I asked.

"I like this kid! GIVE IT TO HIM!" Miko screamed enthusiastically.

Everything was jolly that night. Full of camaraderie and friendship. Nothing but love. The night was still young and we didn't have any jobs lined up, so the entire crew was ready for a week of partying. The mini-van was full of chatter. Overdose sat in the back seat with two other founding members named Silky and Stretch. They were the three of the four tallest member's of the group ranging from five foot nine and up. The fourth tallest was Dan, who wasn't here right now.

Silky was of Vietnamese descent while Stretch was Cambodian and he had second darkest skin tone out of everyone, the first was Alan who we called Blackie. The three of them talked about various topics of interest from the newest Call of Duty game to latest Naruto episode. Darren sat in the middle seats along with Tech and they were talking about his recent break up. Miko and I who sat at the front seats simply nodded to the bass of _Love Lock Down_ by Mr. West as we sung to our heart's content.

For the first time in my life, I felt a sense of belonging among a group of outcasts. A place among strangers who quickly became my friends. They respected me, they never judged me critically for what I have done or will do. Most importantly, they had my back no matter deep in the ditch I was. I have finally found the friends I have searched for so long. I couldn't ask for anything better.

I pulled out another Newport but as I reached for my lighter, Miko leaned over and lit my cigarette. I stared at him with surprise as he gave me a smile. He already had one lit in his mouth. After flicking the zippo lighter shut, he handed it to me.

I stammered at the gesture with words stumbling out of my mouth.

"Dude. That's like your most prized lighter."

Miko placed the lighter in my hand this time.

"Take it kid. It's yours now. Think of it as a good luck charm. Oh and Merry Christmas."

In this neighborhood that I grew up in, when someone else lit your cigarette, it was a sign of the utmost respect. I was flattered but I accepted the lighter graciously. The song on the radio changed again and the entire mini-van erupted into chorus as we all sang at the top of our lungs.

"OH! I'VE BEEN TRAVELING ON THIS ROAD TOO LONG! JUST TRYING TO FIND MY WAY BACK HOME! THE OLD ME'S DEAD AND GONE! DEAD AND GONE!"

As the chorus ended, Overdose screamed from the back of the mini-van.

"Hey _**Rookie**_. This is your part son! Show these fools how we get it down on the AVE!"

I grinned as I acknowledge his request and took a deep breath before starting.

"N... die everyday, all over bullshit. Dope money, dice games, ordinary hood shit..." I rapped as fast as I could just to keep up with the lyrics before I took a gasp of fresh air.

The moment I stopped the rest of the car erupted into chorus again.

Tears of joy started to creep out of my eyes as Miko and I had our arms around each other's shoulders while singing to our heart's content. When the rapping segment came on again Overdose took the reins this time. Two Thousand and Eight, this was one hell of a year, but it was great one.

* * *

><p>I exited the car with Darren to get some fresh air. He was a close friend of mine and the two of us shared an inseparable loyalty to each other even though our father's were business rivals. Both of us lit up a cigarette outside and watched the fog of our breaths mixed with smoke disappear into the cold air. The owner of the mini-van that I had been sitting in walked down the block in anger ignoring us. Sticking out of his jeans was a fully loaded Glock 18C with an extended mag.<p>

Apparently, not everyone was happy this Christmas Eve. A girl in ponytail rushed passed us and grabbed his hand and pleaded for him to stop. He just shook her off of him and continued down the block. That girl's name was Jenn. She was his sister, but she was also my future girlfriend for the next couple of years. Alan stormed down and grabbed Jenn's shoulders and turned her to face him.

"Jenn! I need you to get your shit together! Matt's lost it! He is going down that path of no return. He intends to kill that f_cker alright! I can't stop him! No matter what anyone of us say. We can't stop him! Only you can! The moment he steps in that club and fires that nine, he's going to be nothing but a puddle of blood! You want to save your brother right! Only you can talk him out of it!" Alan screamed at the Jenn as she sobbed while nodding her head.

I started to stand up when I called out to them.

"Hey Ala-"

"SIT YOUR ASS DOWN **ROOKIE** AND ENJOY YOUR F_CKING SMOKE! THIS ISN'T YOUR F_CKING PROBLEM! DON'T GET INVOLVED WITH SHIT WHERE YOU DON'T BELONG!" Alan shouted while pointing his index finger at me.

I nodded as I sat back down the staircase and kept my mouth shut. I watched Alan disappear down the block with Jenn as they went after Matt.

* * *

><p>Luckily, no one died that Christmas. After the rest of the girls arrived, we proceeded to the bar. As usual, the girls rode in Matt's mini-van while the rest of the guys walked to the bar named Galaxy. The only girl that didn't ride in the car was Typo. She was currently dating Miko, but it was Dan and I who had introduced her to the group. Unfortunately, her and Miko were going through some rough waters and she was busy chatting with Miko's best friend, Alan.<p>

Upon reaching the Karaoake bar, we sung to our heart's content again. The night passed in a blur. There were moments when Miko and I had our arms around each other's shoulders while singing along to broken heart love songs. Then there were times when I was rapping along with Alan, Overdose and Silky to various rap artists.

Jenn was able to convince her brother into dropping his vendetta against a man who was poking his girlfriend. Matt had given everything for the girl. I would be pissed too, but going as far as to trying to kill a man? That was just completely unnecessary. Well... I wasn't in a position to judge, if I was his position, I probably wouldn't be thinking straight either. We were young and full of ego. Matt drank his troubles away by purposefully losing in a game of dice against Alan and Tech. I too, was busy playing a game of dice and my opponent was his sister, Jenn.

Leo dropped into the party a little later. As the night wore on, every single one of us got pissed drunk and responsibility went straight out the door. The party was in full swing by the time midnight hit. Miko broke out a bag full of colorful pills while Alan broke out two small bottles full of white powder. They distributed it's contents evenly among us as I rolled my first blunt to the best of my abilities. Almost everyone took a line except for Darren who was passed out, Leo who stuck to drinking and I was busy sealing the blunt with my tongue.

Jenn who was grinding on me earlier to the bump and grind music had taken a pill herself and snorted a line of Ketamine. I lit the blunt up and took a good long puff before I slowly sunk into my seat. I handed the blunt to Overdose who was on my left. Tradition demanded that you always pass it to the person left of you.

I looked around the room as the drugs had taken its effect on everyone. I don't know if it was because of the high, but this moment of happiness I felt was filled with a feeling of ecstasy. I wished this moment of friendship and the bond of the group would never end. I wished that it would last forever.

Smiles was making out with Stretch, she was one of the vehicle specialists on our team. The First Lady, another vehicle specialist was busy making out with Silky. Both ladies were making out with the men they were dating and they were both sitting and grinding on their laps. Miko was busy smoking the blunt and chatting with Tech and Overdose. Darren had woken up and was busy chatting with Matt and Leo about car parts.

I struggled to stand up from my seat. Overdose had noticed me from the corner of his eyes.

"Yo _**Rookie**_! Where you going buddy?"

I answered him in Cantonese that I had to use the can.

* * *

><p>The door closed shut behind me, as I relieved myself. After finishing my business I started to wash my hands when the door suddenly opened and locked itself a moment later. Jenn was standing alone in the bathroom with me. Both of our faces were flushed from the alcohol. Without a warning she leaned into me and put her lips on mine.<p>

Alcohol. It does weird things to people, on top of other substances.

I felt her tongue slip another substance that felt like a pill into my mouth. I was drunk already, so it didn't make much of a difference if I got more f_cked up than I already was. I swallowed the pill she had given to me through her kiss. As we broke away from each other, she took out a packet full of white powder.

Her face was flushed and her entire body was steaming hot from the alcohol mixed with the pill. After she finished cutting the substance up into two thin lines she looked at me. Her eyes were hazy and teary, her blue spaghetti dress was hanging low as she looked at me.

"Join me?" She asked in a low and smokey whisper.

I don't know what came over me then. I had restricted myself to just the weed at the time; however I had known Jenn for a few months already, her brother even longer. She had told me all about her problems in the past few months since I joined the team.

Her fragile heart has been broken multiple times. Her first boyfriend took her virginity through rape and she never told anyone but me. Lately, the two of us had been spending more time together, more than regular friends would spend. Her current boyfriend was poking one of the girls on our team and she knew it. So I guess her time with me was some sort of revenge. I obliged her request as I took my first line.

I coughed and sneezed as the vile substance entered my system. I was running off of alcohol, a unknown pill provided by Miko, and either Ketamine or cocaine. My heart was beating fast, any remaining self control I had left flew straight out the door. Jenn's eyes were teary before she leaned into me for another deep kiss and I gave her back as much as I got. I lost track of time as the drugs took effect.

After our steamy make out session, Jenn was panting as saliva trailed from her lips after she broke our embrace. Both of our hearts were beating fast as she leaned against my chest. She looked up at me with her lovely brown eyes. Her petite lips were open slightly as she breathed heavily. I could only return her gaze as I was at a loss for words. Jenn's body slowly slid down my chest and without thinking my hand reached out and caressed her soft brown hair as I guided her head downwards.

* * *

><p>I received a hard right hook as Matt swung with all his strength at me after Jenn and I exited the bathroom. I stumbled from the impact while holding the left side of my cheek.<p>

"So was it fun?" Matt asked coldly as he held his position after his punch. "And this! Is for finally becoming a man!"

I opened my eyes expecting another punch, but I found Matt offering me a drink. For a moment I thought he was completely pissed that I boned his sister in the bathroom. I cautiously grasp the cup before gulped down the alcohol in one swift motion. Jenn was standing by my side laughing at the scene before she went to lecture her older brother that she wasn't a baby anymore.

Everyone had returned to the room and they raised their glasses with smiles on each of their faces. Really. These were the best friends I could have ever asked for. And then for some reason after I had finished my drink, I rushed up to the bar and order shots of Jameson for everyone. The bartender brought the shots down as I screamed that this round was on me to everyone's surprise. They all cheered my name from my abrupt generosity. The night went on with us singing in each others shoulders. It was the best night of my life. I didn't want it to end. Ever.

Eventually the owner kicked us out and I had to call Royce to help Leo and I carry Darren's dead weight back to Leo's crib.

* * *

><p>"What!" Leo and I screamed in unison when we learned that Royce had never heard of foreplay.<p>

Leo face-palmed himself as he shook his head at Royce's lack of knowledge in the bedroom despite his massive amount of encounters with girls. We pulled up several videos of pornography that displayed the proper procedure of bed room etiquette. Darren woke up to the faint noises coming from the laptop.

"Ugh. Why does my butt hurt. WHAT THE F_CK! Hey, did you guys do something to my butt while I was knocked out?" Darren asked hysterically.

"No. We just dumped you there. We're showing Royce what foreplay is. Apparently this idiot has no idea of what he is doing in the bed room." Leo said with a bored expression on his face.

"Don't fuck with me. I find that hard to believe when I wake up to three guys watching porn. Did you guys stick something up my ass?" Darren asked again not believing Leo's alibi.

"No, no! Seriously! We just tossed you there! We were tired of carrying your dead weight, so we dumped you there. You probably slept on that crack in the middle of the sofa-bed!" I said frantically.

Darren frowned at my explanation.

"I still find that hard to believe." His face cracked into a grin. "So Royce. You never heard of fore play? You are one selfish bastard. Let me educate you properly along with these newbies!"

"Actually, he just had a good session with Jenn so I guess he doesn't count as a newbie," Leo said pointing his thumb at me while continuing to scroll through the selection of videos.

"You did what? With my ex!?" Darren screamed as he sat up right completely.

"She's your ex?" Leo and I asked in unison as our eyebrows almost shot off our heads.

I shook my head with my eyes closed before I started to mumble. "Well... this just got awkward. I mean, I didn't know."

Darren nodded with his eyes closed. "Yeah. Royce was the only one that knew. Don't worry I'm not pissed. I fear for you life man. That chick is rough."

* * *

><p><strong>Time: New Years Eve, 2008-<strong>

**04:00 PM**

**Location: Smith Public Housing, New York City**

I blew smoke out of Leo's 8th story kitchen window as I stared at the scene outside. Not a single soul stirred in the streets even though it was New Years Eve. It was four in the afternoon and the grey clouds that loomed over the entire city started to darken. Snow continued to fall slowly. The streets were a disgusting mess of slush and salt.

_Talk about depressing._

I ran into Tech yesterday while lounging at the team's usual gathering spot, a tea garden named Tic-Tac-Toe. It was late in the afternoon when he walked through the door of the store with a black and purple bruise on his right cheek. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that something was up. I haven't seen any one from the team since Christmas. Nor was I able to contact any them.

"What happened to you? And have you seen anyone else from the team?" I asked as Tech sat down on the stool next to mine and order a cup of black tea.

"It's best if you didn't know. Trust me." Tech replied as he paid for his drink.

I had no right to dabble in their personal affairs. If they decided to let me in, it would be of their own accord. I wasn't going to push my boundaries. Tech and I sat at the counter in silence as we enjoyed our hot drinks. It appeared as if he was having a internal debate based on whether or not he should tell me something.

The moment he finished his tea, he gave me a pat on the back and left without saying a word. Tech walked away with his hands stuck in the pockets of his black overcoat while his back was hunched over. Tech exited into the windy grey street before stopping for a second to look back at me through the store window. I was puzzled by his solemn actions as I watched him cross the street before disappearing into the thick winter fog.

* * *

><p>I put the cigarette out in Leo's kitchen sink before tossing it into the garbage can. Royce, Leo, and Darren were still playing Mah Jong in the living room and Darren's cries of sorrow were the loudest. The poor guy was crying for his wallet as the cheers from Leo and Royce erupted. That's the sixth round he lost. I was about to return to the table and test my luck again when my Motorola Nextel beeped.<p>

The sound of Tech's voice over the walkie-talkie cell phone was frantic.

"Where are you _**Rookie**_? Are you home?"

My brows furrowed before I push the button to talk. "No. I'm at Leo's. What's happenin'?"

"Shit's hit the fan! Someone has it out for everyone in the team! Miko picked up a job last minute. We were supposed to pick up a batch of goods from a warehouse on a pier in Brooklyn. He went in with Stretch, Typo and Smiles but they reported enemy contact before the transmission was cut off. Then after that, some asshole blew my front door down with a shotgun!" Tech's voice was distorted from his frantic screaming.

"Keep talking. I'm on my way," I said as I rushed to the coat hanger and grabbed my jacket.

Tech coughed twice as his breathing got heavier. "I'm fine. I got the f_cker, but I think my left wrist is fractured, and my chest hurts every time I breath or talk. Could be a few cracked ribs."

I was about to exit the apartment when Darren opened the door for me.

"Come on let's go. You're not going to make it there on your own in twenty minutes, but with me behind the wheel you will."

I nodded and accepted his offer, but upon seeing Leo and Royce getting dressed in the background I screamed. "Stay put! I don't to want to drag you guys into this. Darren's going because he's the only with a car right now!"

Their faces became shallow with disappointment.

"Guys. I'm worried about your safety. That's all. I'm involved in some heavy shit and I don't want to bring the repercussion back on you."

They sighed as they understood my position and sat back down in the living room. Without wasting any more time I walked out the door with Darren closing it behind me.

* * *

><p>The black 2001 Nissan Skyline GTR was being pushed to it's limit as Darren drove us down the BQE. Cars were moving slowly but thankfully traffic was not too bad. Darren was changing lanes at the speed one would flip hot cakes. I saw the usual downwards bend coming up as I heard him lift his foot off the gas before stomping down on the clutch. Darren just put his car into the sixth gear.<p>

Panic began to fill me as I stuttered. "Hey man. What are you doing?"

Darren answered my question with a grin as he gripped the steering wheel tighter and focused on the road ahead of him.

"I'm trying to beat my own record time of two minutes and thirty six seconds on this section of the highway."

The torque pushed me up against my seat as my sweaty hands tried grabbed hold of anything with a handle. This man is a maniac when he is in the driver's seat. Suddenly he released the gas as he turned the car towards the guard rails. My eyes widened in shock thinking that he has gone insane, but then the head of the car suddenly shifted back inwards as the tail of the vehicle flailed out.

Darren was struggling as he tried to maintain control of his oversteer. I heard tires screeching through the closed icy windows as Darren drifted the vehicle around the bend. However there were three vehicles ahead of us driving at the same speed which formed a blockade on the road. If we kept going in this trajectory we were bound to collide with any one of them.

My eyes never left the road and neither did Darren's but I heard him chuckle as he miraculously shifted the weight of the car again. By doing so he pulled us out of current path and drifted on the shoulder lane past the three vehicles. He slowly shifted us into the middle lane and returned to driving at a steady pace.

My heart was pounding and I found myself covered in cold sweat while breathing heavily. "Holy shit. That was. Oh my god. Holy shit man."

Darren laughed to my left as he lit a cigarette before speaking.

"Yeah, sorry about that buddy. The front end of my Skyline is pretty heavy so I had to use the *_Scandinavian Feint* _to push it's weight to my liking. Good thing I put snow tires on last week too! My regular tires wouldn't have the traction to to pull off that move in the snow and we would've been toast."

_(*Scaninavian Feint* - Drifting technique that involves flicking the car in the opposite direction before a corner to generate weight transfer that can unsettle the car enough to flick the back out.)_

Darren took a glance at me and laughed. My face had lost all it's color.

"So you want to fill me in on the details? We still have five minutes and since I'm already driving you into a shit storm, I think I've earned the right to know." He said as he concentrate on the icy road ahead.

I took a deep breath before I started and repeated what I knew based off of Tech's account.

Three days ago Alan, Miko, Tech, and Typo went out for another night of drinking at Colors, a bar in Brooklyn. Suddenly in his drunken state, Miko lashed out at Typo and started to choke her. Alan and Tech tried to pull him off of her, but Miko swung at both of his closest friends. He pounced on top of Alan screaming he trusted him and continued to throw fruitless punches at Alan's face. Tech eventually tore Miko off of Alan before the bouncers threw them out.

Apparently that night at Galaxy, not everyone was in good spirits as I had once believed. Underneath all those happy faces, a lot of internal hostility was brewing. While I was busy getting it on with Jenn in the bathroom, Alan and Typo had gone outside. Typo was taking comfort in Alan's arms as she told him about her problems with Miko. While Miko was downstairs partying with the rest of the boys, Alan was doing his job as a boyfriend and comforting Typo. Typo went home with Alan that night.

Miko had his suspicions, but when he was so pissed off that he didn't say anything when he walked in on them the next morning. Miko found his best friend and his girl friend sleeping in each other's arms. Both of them were completely naked under the bed sheets after their hot and steamy love session from the night before.

While the fight was happening at Colors, Smiles and The First Lady had gone into Flushing to settle some business with Matt's deadbeat girl friend. Apparently she had been sleeping with Silky behind The First Lady's back. Little did the two women know they were walking in to an ambush. Matt's dead beat girlfriend had called in a favor from the Empress. Empress was the one who ran all of the underground operations in Flushing. That entire part of town was her turf and she controlled it alone.

Smiles and First Lady were out numbered and found themselves fighting for their lives. Luckily both of them escaped but the First Lady was bleeding profusely. She suffered multiple cut wounds from numerous machetes while Smiles was trying to hot wire a get away vehicle for them. The First Lady is still in critical condition at the hospital.

Then last night, Miko called everyone in saying that he had a job. Everyone, but me. It was a normal job and the client wanted extra security while his shipment was in transit. While Miko, Typo, Stretch and Smiles went into grab the shipment, Alan and Dan sat freezing in the car. No one was able to get in contact with Overdose or Silky. Tech was at home overseeing the mission when things went down hill and he was attacked not a moment later. Tech was able to put two and two together. The attacks weren't a coincidence. Someone wanted all of us dead.

* * *

><p><strong>Time: New Years Eve, 2008-<strong>

**04:42 PM**

**Location: Tech's House, Brooklyn**

It was already dark when the car screeched to a stop in front of Tech's house. The place was a mess. His front door was completely blown off it's hinges.

"Keep the car running. If shooting starts, you drive off." I said to Darren before exiting the car without waiting for his response.

I pulled out the Sig Sauer P226 that was tucked in between my belt and my jeans. The weapon was smaller and easier to conceal and in some ways it was safer than a Glock in my opinion. The Glock pistols had occasional incidents of accidental discharge. I chambered a round and flipped the safety off as I approached the front of the house.

Leaning up against the wall to the right of the front entrance, I called out. "Tech! You still alive in there?"

Tech's voice echoed from below, followed by several nasty coughs. "Yeah! I'm downstairs!"

I walked into the house slowly. The wooden fragments of the door and broken glass crunched beneath my boots. I kept my weapon at the ready as I approached. You never know if someone was still lurking around. I found Tech in the basement along with all his equipment which was ruined. He was slouched in his chair clutching his chest with his one good hand. I was no doctor, but I read all kinds of books in my spare time.

"Jesus Christ Tech. You're all kinds of f_cked up." I commented as I grabbed a meter stick from his work table, a rag he used to clean his equipment and a CAT-5 cable.

"This might hurt a little so bear with me," I said as I made a makeshift splint for his fractured wrist. "There, better?"

Tech grunted as he was able to move his left arm around a little better without hurting himself too much.

"Here let me take a look at your chest," I said as raised his shirt up.

"When the f_ck did you become a medic? I don't remember ever hiring one," Tech said with his voice wavering between each word.

"When I found out that no one on the team had any medical experience I figured I might as well learn what I can by myself. I believe that if I can at least perform proper first aid, then everyone in the team would have a higher chance of survival on missions." I replied while examining the red mark on the left side of his chest.

I felt around the area, but it was impossible to diagnose the damage without a proper CAT-Scan.

"Doesn't feel like your ribs are broken or cracked. It could just be internal bruising, but I can't tell for sure. Internal bruising would be the best case scenario. I'll get you to the hospital to have it checked out just in case," I said as I picked him up.

Tech stopped me with his injured arm while speaking, he was wheezing.

"Wait. We need to get to the pier. Before you got here, I was able to restore communication with Dan and Alan. They said everyone was down and they're heading in to check it out, but the transmission got cut again."

I gritted my teeth now that Tech reminded me of the situation at the warehouses. Tech's condition could be a lot worse than what I diagnosed. He could actually be bleeding internally, and if I didn't get him to the hospital soon, his condition could become fatal. Then again, everyone else was at the warehouse on the pier without back up and I didn't even know if they were dead or alive. Overdose and Silky were **M.I.A.**, and if Tech couldn't reach them then there was no way in hell that I can call them for help.

"Fine, I'll have Darren drop me off at the pier's entrance. After that, he's taking you straight to the hospital." I said through my clenched teeth.

Tech pointed to his workbench as he struggled in pain to speak.

"Grab that. I finished running the diagnostics and added some finishing touches. It's still a prototype, so the battery life will only last you about five minutes."

I looked at the object Tech was describing. It was a grey ballistic mask with a black spade spray-painted in the center.

* * *

><p><strong>Time: New Years Eve, 2008-<strong>

**05:16 PM**

**Location: 1st Avenue and 62nd Street**

**Warehouses on the Pier, Brooklyn**

Darren slowed the car to a stop in front of the entrance to the pier. He turned to face me with a stern look.

"Be careful boy. I'm not paying for your funeral." He said before giving me a slap on my shoulder.

I gave him a nod before looking back at Tech who was lying down on the back seat.

"Take care of him." I said before exiting the car.

"Hey _**Jack**_!" Tech called out from the vehicle before I could close the door.

"What did you call me?" I asked peering back into the interior of the car.

"_**Jack**_. That's the nickname the guys and I decided on. You're like a Swiss army knife man. You're constantly surprising us by pulling something new out of your ass. You're a _**Jack of All Trades**_. So I guess the name suits you." Tech said as he sat up in the back seat while coughing.

I gave him a weak smile before replying softly. "Thanks boss."

Tech coughed two more times before he continued. "You're no longer a Rook. Now go earn your stripes. Oh and tell me how the mask runs."

I gave him a thumbs up before closing the door. I patted the roof of the vehicle twice before taking a step back. The Skyline GTR did a little burnout before speeding off into the distance. I put the mask on my face before pulling out my P226 and took off in a sprint towards the warehouse. I only have five minutes of assistance from the mask. Five minutes was more than enough. Nothing. Takes five minutes.

As I approached the warehouse I found the burning wreckage of a car. Dan's body laid on the ground several feet away. I ran to my friend to check his pulse. He was still alive but out cold. I grunted as I drag his body away from the burning car and laid him up against a shipping container. He'll be safer here out of sight. I returned to the wreckage to search for Alan's body but I only found the shape of his body indented in the snow. There was also a trail that showed that someone had dragged him into the warehouse.

* * *

><p>The warehouse was dimly lit as I swept my gun around my surroundings. The mask detected two bodies inside. One on the ground and one standing on catwalk up top. Their heat signatures had dropped significantly. I push the mask up to get a better view. My lips opened as I cursed silently. I walked closer to the body that laid on the ground. His eyes were wide open and frozen in shock.<p>

Stretch laid there with a large bullet hole in the center of his head. His dark crimson blood pooled around his body. I shut my eyes as I put my fingers on his eye lids and closed his eyes for good. I tilted my head up to look at the person who I initially thought was standing on the cat walk.

My body froze at the scene. It was Smiles. Her body was swinging from left to right off the catwalk. There was a rope tied around her neck. Her eyes were rolled up and her tongue was out. Her hair swung carelessly from the icy evening breeze of winter. Her arms dangled loosely along with her body. Her glasses were cracked in half on the ground as if someone had just walked over them.

I closed my eyes before flipping the mask down again in front of my face. I couldn't look anymore. The sound of a man grunting and flesh hitting flesh came from the exit of the warehouse at the other end. I approached the exit slowly, taking care not to make any noise. Peering around the corner of the giant metal exit, I found Miko punching a man strapped to a chair.

Typo laid in the snow with her hands and legs bound by ropes. Her clothes laid on the ground next to her as she was freezing in just her bra and jeans. Her bra was hanging loosely off of her shoulders and her jeans were severely torn all over. Typo's body was covered in bloody bruises as she laid there shivering and crying.

"MIKO! WHAT THE F_CK MAN!" I shouted as I stepped out into the open with my P226 aimed at his chest.

Miko stopped punching the man tied to the seat to look at me with his narrow eyes. He sniffled and wiped his nose with his forearms before raising his bloody hands in my direction.

"_**Rookie**_! Having a nice New Year's Eve? I certainly am. Just give me a minute, I'm almost done with Alan here." Miko said while panting before he struck the man in the chair two more times with his fist. The second blow sent him flying towards me.

From the corner of my eye I recognized Alan's swollen face covered with blood and a broken nose. Miko sniffled again while breathing heavily. I kept my gun trained on him as he walked over to Typo.

"Now, before, you jump to conclusions," Miko said as he tried to catch his breath in between words.

"I didn't want any of this to happen, but they," Miko said as he pointed at Alan and Typo. "They forced it on me."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked hoarsely under my mask.

"Oh. Scary! I'll admit, that mask looks great on you. Gives you more of a menacing look than some green horn street rat," Miko commented as he threw punches in mid air as to accentuate his remark.

"You killed Stretch and Smiles didn't you. You also tried to have Tech killed. He was your child-hood friend! Does friendship mean nothing to you? I trusted you! **WE TRUSTED YOU!**" I screamed in rage while my hands were shaking.

The word "trust" threw Miko into over drive as his anger took over his insanity.

"They all turned on me **Rookie**! They all turned on each other! They were the ones who tore the team apart! They spat on the word _**friend**_ and tossed it into the **G**_**utter**_!" Miko screamed as he roughly picked up Typo by her hair.

He took a deep breath before he continued his speech while looking at me with his eyes full of pain.

"You can't trust anyone in this world kid. It is by my grace that you are still alive. You and you alone are the only innocent one in all of this bullshit! You played by the rules and you stayed loyal to everyone! That's why I didn't call you in for the mission! That's why I didn't want to kill you kid!" Miko shouted at me as tears started to swell around his eyes.

"What do you mean innocent?" I asked while taking a step closer to Miko and Typo.

"Stretch, Overdose and Silky. Those three have been stealing massive amounts of money from the team for a whole year before I noticed. The First Lady and Smiles have been creating way too much problems with the larger underground networks. Those guys wanted their heads on a pike or it was going to be mine!" Miko screamed as his eyes widened and his pupils dilated.

"IT WAS **THEM** OR **ME**! **ME** OR **THEM**! _**WHO**_ F_CK... WOULD YOU HAVE _**CHOSEN**_!?" Miko continued to screamed hysterically as he began to massage Typo's breasts.

Miko then moved his left hand down into Typo's jeans as she flinched from his cold intruding touch. He then pulled a chrome Beretta from his waist with his right hand and pointed the barrel under Typo's chin.

"Then guess what? I find this _**SLUT**_! _**Sleeping**_ with my _**BEST FRIEND**_! You can't trust anyone kiddo! No one! They will all eventually turn and _**stab**_ you in the back. _**Tech**_ made his _**choice**_ when he decided to side with Alan at the bar that night! My own _**child-hood friend!**_" Miko spat in disbelief as he continued to man handle Typo.

Miko was completely deranged at this point. He's lost it. Typo was shivering in his grasp and tears were streaking out of her closed eyes. I tried to concentrate on my breathing and steady my aim. I didn't want to kill him, even after what he has done. It was terrible, but enough people died today.

"You know, before you got here. I was going to have my way with Typo one more time in front of Alan just to spite him. _**Typo is**_ _**my woman.**_" Miko said coldly before inhaled the smell of Typo's hair.

"I can do whatever I want with her. **Beat** her, **choke** her, **f_ck** her, anything I want and it's none of his damn business. And right now, there's nothing he can do about it." Miko said as he carefully enunciated each option of abuse while pointing his gun at Alan who laid on the ground coughing.

"But, now that you're here. I guess play time is over. Oh did I forget to mention that I can also **_kill her._**"

Miko flashed me a grin before flipping the safety of the gun off. My eyes widened at the motion as I took a step forward with my gun trained and screamed.

"**MIKO! NO!**"

_**KA-PLOW!**_

* * *

><p>The shot echoed around the warehouses. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Typo's sobbing stopped instantly. A red mist sprayed out of her head as the bullet exited her skull. Her entire body went limp as she collapsed on to the ground. I fired three shots at Miko who had already ran off after pulling the trigger. My arms dropped as I rushed to Typo's body to catch her before she fell to the ground.<p>

My right arm cradled Typo's head as her blood pooled out onto my dark jeans and colored the snow red. I whimpered as sobs escaped my mouth while hugging her dead body close to my chest. Then to add insult to injury, Miko spoke the thoughts that were running through my head.

"Still too soft kid. You could'v put a bullet between my eyes the moment you stepped through that exit. What? You think I didn't know about your little military training? I called in a favor and got a background check on you."

I carefully placed Typo down on the ground as I aimed my pistol at the direction of his voice. My eyes widened when the chrome colored barrel of his gun peeked around the corner of a shipping container. I quickly ran and took cover behind a shipping container as three of his shots hit the ground where I was standing earlier. White puffs of snow trailed up from the impact.

Miko's jeering voice pierced the silence of the night as he unleashed everything he knew about my past.

"You seriously thought I would hire a green horn nobody? You partook in numerous bloody fights when you joined a wanna-be gang. Even though you were fighting for your life, you fought defensively with your machete. You kept a low profile. You wanted to get out this life and make a proper living so you hired yourself a old NYU professor turned tutor. Turns out that he was also a USMC Drill Sergeant during the Vietnam War, but academics wasn't all that he taught you was it."

I peeked out of my cover before ducking back in quickly as two shots ricocheted off the metal container.

Miko continued his verbal taunts.

"No, he taught you how to defend yourself properly. He taught you how to be a marksman with a M1 Garand as well as shooting a 1911 with just one hand up to 100 yards. As if that wasn't surprising enough, you were able to do with both hands. Talk about being ambidextrous. However, shooting wasn't all he taught you. You learned how to box as well as Aikido from the old man. You're a real trained killer kid."

"Great! You know my past! So what!" I shouted back at Miko as the HUD on my mask began to flicker.

"I'm trying to teach you a lesson here kid! What I'm saying is that even if you are a **Jack of All Trades**, you can't survive in this world by playing defense! You have to go on the offensive. You need to be able to pull the trigger without hesitating!" Miko shouted back at me.

* * *

><p>Both of us turned around from our covers at the same time as I fired my P226 with just my right hand. I gasp as air disappeared from my lungs when the impact of something hit my chest where the area of my heart was. The force of the bullet sent me twirling backwards in the air.<p>

_Shit! He got me._

My eyes were clenched shut from the pain in my chest as I landed on my back. I groaned from the impact, but I was still alive. I stared back up at Miko was standing at the edge of the ware house pier. He stumbled around as his left hand clutched the area where his liver was. A dark crimson color began to spread on his white North Face jacket.

Miko shifted his gaze from his wound and to where I was on the ground. Maybe I was still dazed from being shot, but for a moment as he stared at me, I saw sanity restored to his eyes that were filled with regret. He gave me a weak smile as he stumbled again and fell backwards into the East River to join the rest of the nameless dead bodies.

Dan who was no longer out cold rushed through the doors as I winced at the pain my chest. After checking on Alan he rushed over to my side.

"Holy shit dude. How are you still alive?" Dan asked in disbelief as he noticed the bullet hole in my jacket.

I unzipped my jacket and reached into the breast pocket of my black and white checkered flannel and pulled out the lighter that Miko had given to me on Christmas. Talk about irony. Dan called me a lucky bastard before he shifted his gaze to Typo's body that laid on the ground.

"Is she?"

"She's gone Dan. She's gone." I answered.

"What about Miko?" He asked as tears began to swell up.

"I killed him." I muttered softly.

I couldn't meet his gaze. I grunted as I gathered my remaining strength to stand up.

"Damn it! How? How did it come to this?" Dan asked while punching the snow covered ground in frustration while sobbing.

I stayed quiet and limped past Dan towards Typo's body. I carefully picked her up in a bridal carry before looking at Dan, my eyes were full of sorrow.

"Daniel. Let's go. Grab Alan. I'll go hot wire the mini van outside. After that, help me with Stretch and Smile's bodies." I said before walking towards the warehouse.

* * *

><p><strong>Time: January, 2009<strong>

**09:00 AM**

**Location: Flushing Cemetery, Queens**

The four of us stood in front of five graves as their caskets were being covered with dirt and snow. Alan stood to my right, his face had an assortment of bandages but the swelling had gone down. To his right was Dan, he had suffered minor injuries like me. On my left was Tech. He was still wheezing from his injury, but it was as I predicted, the best case scenario; however his left arm was in a cast. The caskets were filled with the bodies of our dear friends and comrades.

The First Lady survived from her wounds and was resting at the hospital.

Smiles, Stretch, and Typo had all died by Miko's hands. Silky was killed in a brothel in Flushing, the killer was never found. Overdose died from an overdose of Ketamine. He was found in his apartment tied to a chair and covered with the drug. His hastily packed suitcase full of money laid open.

Miko's body was never found. Nor did he deserve a funeral. After the ordeal, all we were left with was pain and betrayal.

Each one of us lit a cigarette up in unison. We took a deep drag before holding the cigarette upright in front of our faces. Together, the four of us bowed three times in sync before walking towards the front of their graves and planted the cigarette upright. Alan repeated the process for Typo while Tech did the same for Overdose.

Everyone we held dear to our hearts, our team, our friendship, the love and the happiness we all shared together. They were all dead and gone. All that was left was the empty shells of four men and a injured woman who should not have survived that night. But you can never fully cheat death.

Death always claimed some sort of payment. We lost everything that New Years Eve. Now, we're nothing but the walking dead in the land of the living.

* * *

><p><strong>Time: January, 2009<strong>

**07:00 PM**

**Location: Brooklyn, Tech's House**

That night after the burial, we were in the basement of Tech's house. Tech had sold all his electronic equipment along with his furniture. He didn't want to live in this city anymore. He found a high paying job in the Silicon valley and he was leaving in two days.

Alan and Dan were still somewhat lost on what to do. They only knew how to fight and transport goods so they decided to take their chances in the Golden Triangle. The money was good, and it's a buffet right now, so they might as well eat. The three of them were sitting around a fire contained in a barrel at the center of the basement.

Each one of them had a bottle of Maker's Mark whiskey in their hands. They littered the floor with paper money while pouring the whiskey out on the ground as per Asian custom.

"Take it all and spend it guys! Don't have to be stingy in the after life!" Dan shouted at the ceiling before taking a swig.

"Yeah! Buy all the nice dresses and the biggest bath tub you want girls!" Alan screamed trying to hold back his tears.

"Silky, I know you were always a greedy banker in your heart. So bathe in all this cold hard cash!" said Tech joining in.

"Have all the drugs you want Overdose! You went out like we all expected you would champ!" Alan pitched in before tossing some Ketamine into the burning fire.

"Stretch! Here's some condoms! Stay safe brother!" Dan said before throwing a box of Trojans into the fire.

The process continued on as I observed from my position on the workbench. I was loading .45's into magazines for a 1911 pistol. Alan left his seat as he approached me.

"Jack. You want to come with us to Roanapur? We can't stay in New York anymore. Dan and I are going start fresh. Do things right this time around. We'll split the profits evenly. We can really use your skills."

"I think I'll run solo for a while. It's worked out for me pretty well in the past." I answered. "Relax, I'll look for you guys after I finish up some business here."

Alan sunk his head into my shoulder as he began to sob. In between his cries he whispered his torment and his guilt to me.

"I killed her. I'm sorry Jack. She was your friend. And. And. I killed her. I should have never hired her."

My hands clenched in to a fist at his torment. I didn't want to see him like this. He was complete wreck and the fault was all mine.

"No. I let her die. I could have taken the shot any time. But, I hesitated. I thought he was still our friend."

I knew I had it coming when I spoke the truth. Alan's fist made contact with my face before he kicked me onto the ground and pointed the loaded Colt 1911 at me.

"WHAT? YOU HAD THE SHOT AND YOU DIDN'T TAKE IT? You saw what he did to Smiles and Stretch and you still thought of him as a friend?" Alan screamed as his face contorted into emotions of anger and pain.

Dan and Tech jumped out of their seats at Alan's outburst.

"Alan! Calm down! What are you doing?" Tech said quietly as he tried to coax Alan out of his rage.

"This f_cker had the shot and he didn't take it! Typo died because of him! This f_cking idiot thought that 'he' was still a friend! Who the f_ck? Is that stupid! Why the hell did we hire this dumb shit in the first place!?" Alan shouted at Tech as he dangerously waved the pistol around.

"Alan. Put the gun down partner. We. Are not going to bury anymore of our friends. Understand?" Dan said coldly as he made large strides towards Alan and took the gun away from him before placing it back on the table.

Tech slowly guided Alan back to his chair around the fire before Dan turned to face me.

"Alan acted irrationally without thinking, but based off of what he said. If he does not forgive you after he has cooled off. Then I won't forgive you. If that becomes the case, I don't ever want to see your face again and if I do, I'll shoot you myself. Are we clear?" Dan whispered so that the other two wouldn't hear.

I gave him a silent nod before he returned to his seat.

* * *

><p>Eventually the crying stopped once they were pissed drunk and they were laughing and reminiscing the past.<p>

"Hey remember that time when Silky found out the hooker was actually a man that went through a sex change?" Dan asked waving his bottle of whiskey carelessly.

The room filled with laughter and excited chatter. I saw on my table away from them sharpening the blade of my machete. My magazines were all loaded and my backpack sitting on the ground was homemade IEDs. As the laughter died down, Alan turned around in his chair to face me.

"Jack. About earlier. I'm sorry man. I didn't mean all those things I said." Alan said quietly.

"Course you did. You're drunk and what you said was right. I'll accept the apology though." I replied coldly as I slipped my backpack on. "But, now. I won't ever have a problem with pulling the trigger."

"Where are you going?" Alan asked as his eyes narrowed.

"We still have a friend in the hospital and I think she deserves a display of fireworks from Flushing," I said with a grin on my face as I sheathed my sharpened machete.

"Hold on. We'll come with you," Dan said as he tried to get out of his chair but failed miserably.

I laughed at this continued attempts to stand up right as I grabbed the ballistic mask on the table that was resprayed with a demented yellow smiley face.

Alan's voice became stern this time around. "What is it exactly... that you intend to do?"

"What a old man taught me to do," I answered as I placed the mask on my face before turning to face Alan. "Kill Them All."


	9. Chapter 9 - The Partner Who's Not Dead

**Foreword: I know the last chapter was pretty long, but the flow of it didn't sit well with me after I tried to split it into two parts. I had two of my buddies who were featured in the story go over it for accuracy of a small portion of the events described. I also asked them for an opinion on how dark it was really was. One of my friends believed that a character could have been more sick and darker, but I didn't want to go over board. In my opinion, I thought the scene was utterly screwed up to begin with. **

**Also I noticed several spelling and phrasing errors despite having gone through it several times with my buddies. So if you readers find anything, don't be afraid to point it out. I am also curious as to whether or not I have truly achieve a dark and twisted tone in the last chapter. If not, what can be done to improve it? **

**And now, without further disruptions, I present a shorter chapter before the action really kicks into high gear.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Nine<strong>

**The Partner Who's Not Dead**

* * *

><p><strong>Location: Tokonosu City-<strong>

**House of a Deceased, High Valued Target**

**Time: Z-Day + 1, 13:00 Hours**

My eyes fluttered open under the rays of the afternoon light. Crusty trails of dried up tears were plastered to my cheeks. I groaned as I rolled off the sofa and fell onto the floor boards instead of getting up like a normal person. My right leg was paralyzed and both of my shoulders and my neck were stiff from falling asleep in a weird position. I laid on the floor for a minute as I waited for blood circulation to return to my leg.

I laid on the floor slapping my right leg in attempt to get the blood flowing when a nasty audible growl filled the room. My last meal was over twelve hours ago but I've been going through my pack of cigarettes like a cow eats grass. Smoking does kill your appetite after all, but I have reached a point where I can no longer hold back my hunger by smoking.

I've been through situations like this before. It all begins when the cigarettes taste even more foul than they usually are. This is followed by the taste of stomach bile resting at the tip of my tongue. The final step is the stomach pains caused by hunger, but I lucked out from the painful ordeal when I entered the kitchen.

Sitting right there, on the counter, was a hot meal waiting for me. A bowlful of rice mixed with sliced pieces of spam and egg covered by a plastic wrap. To the side of the bowl was a freshly brewed cup of coffee and a yellow post it note that read:

_"Eat up boss man. We got a long day ahead of us. Sorry I couldn't make you soup."_

At the end of the note was a smiley face.

I laughed softly at the scene after reading the note. After all this time, I thought I was baby sitting her, but it turns out that it was actually the other way around. The clanking of wood against ceramics filled the room as I tore into the meal like a rabid dog. I recalled all the times I was out late at the office because I was busy pouring over financial spread sheets and mission documents.

It's not that I was dedicated to boring paper work, but it was because somebody had to do it. Alan and Dan were never sober enough to get the job done. Sometimes I would forget to eat while working. Hours would pass and I would still be sitting in the same hunched over position. As the clock ticked to one past midnight, the growl of my stomach was what snapped me out of my working trance. However before I could even call for take out, Queen would just appear with a home cooked meal.

* * *

><p>There was one night like every other when I was typing away like a mad man at the office. Tech and I were the only ones who had came into the office that day. Everyone else stayed home because of the tropical storm. Tech came in to utilize the quiet time, so he can finally do some proper maintenance without anyone disturbing him. He was out the door by four in the afternoon.<p>

If there were no jobs lined up, then nobody really had to be in the office. They were all free to do whatever they want. The office was more of a gathering place.

The only sources of light came from the hanging warehouse pendant which filled the middle of the room with a dim yellow glow and my computer screen that emitted a faint white hue on my face. There was still another folder full of mission documents to go through, but it's not like there was a deadline for me to go through them. I yawned as I reached for the phone to order take out again. As usual, the door to the office unlocked itself.

Queen entered the office dressed in one of my spring time pull-over hoodie's. The hood was pulled over her hair, which was damp and hanging down. The garment was a few sizes too big for her, so it covered most of her thighs and anything else she wore underneath it. If, she actually wore anything else underneath it. Queen would have looked like an adorable girlfriend in the outfit if she didn't have a scowl full of annoyance fixed on her face.

**THWACK!**

Queen dropped a plastic container filled with her home cooked meal on my desk before shutting my monitor off. She loomed over me before speaking in a commanding voice.

"Eat."

I did what I was told. Queen's normal demeanor on nights like this would be like that of a mother who didn't know what to do with her delinquent child. That night was a little different. Queen was pissed. While I was eating, Queen pulled up a chair next to me before sitting down and lighting a cigarette. I felt her eyes burning holes through my back as I devoured the meal.

"You look like shit." Queen said in a harsh tone. "Seriously, have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? Look at the monitor right now."

Queen was right. I did looked like shit. My eyes were sunken and surrounded with dark circles. My hair was disheveled. My lips were cracked and dry from the massive amount of chain smoking throughout the day. The fact that I had finished two potfuls of black coffee throughout the day didn't help my appearance either.

I thanked Queen after I finished my meal and proceeded to light another cigarette before she snatched it away from me. Before I could complain, Queen slammed a bottle full of pills on my table.

"What the f_ck... is this?" Queen asked as I looked at my secret stash of sleeping medication. "Jack, what is going on?"

I let out a sigh. There was no point in hiding it from her that night. So I decided to tell her the reasons why I purposefully stayed late at the office. The nightmares were getting worse and I had trouble sleeping. The only way I could cope was to do some mind numbing work that was enough to lull me to sleep, but even then the nightmares would return. Eventually the best way to keep the nightmares at bay was to work until I passed out.

"So you haven't been using these?" Queen asked skeptically.

"Only twice. They never worked." I answered her before I switched my monitor back on.

Queen let out a sigh before she stuck the cigarette back in my mouth and lighting it.

"You could have told me. I'm your partner remember? Your problem is my problem." Queen murmured quietly. "Well at least now I don't have to worry about you becoming addicted to these things."

Queen quietly watched me work for a few minutes. The room was filled with smoke from our cigarettes before she put her's out in the ash tray with a large sigh.

"Whatever. F_ck it. Come with me." Queen said before smacking my hands away from the keyboard.

Queen then shut the monitor off again before dragging me to the briefing room in the back. The room was dark, but the constant flash of lightning was enough for Queen to guide us to the couch without too much difficulty. Queen lightly shoved me onto the couch before she straddled my lap. She slowly began to gyrate her hips back and forth while her hands were placed on my chest.

"Queen, wha-" I began, but she silenced me with her lips pressed up against mine.

I was tired and my mind was hazy as I closed my eyes and returned the embrace by wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her in. Queen stopped gyrating on my lap after she pulled away from our kiss. Her left cheek was pressed up against my own. Her skin was hot and her chest, filled with anticipation, was rising and falling against my body. Queen's steamy breath tickled my ears as she spoke in a mellow and soothing tone.

"You're having trouble sleeping. You're also stressed out. But, did you forget something? I'm your partner, but I'm also a woman. It's my job as your partner and as a woman to help you with your problems."

With that, Queen leaned back slightly before pulling the pull-over hoodie off her body and discarded it on the couch. Queen guided my hands back to her waist as she began to gyrate on my lap again. Lightning flashed once more as I took in Queen's beautiful petite body with my eyes. Something primate and savage started to beat within my chest. I closed my eyes and leaned back to enjoy the ride.

_**KA-THOOM!**_

The crack of thunder followed by it's rolling echo brought me back to my senses as my eyes shot open and my muscles stiffened.

"Queen stop," I muttered as I pulled Queen into a hug. "I can't let you do this with me. Not to yourself, nor our friendship. As long as we're team mates, this isn't right. The risk that will follow after this... it's something I can't take. I refuse to take that risk."

Queen stopped moving her hips as she held my head deep in her bosom while gently running her fingers through my hair. We stayed in that position for another five minutes as both of us cooled off. Queen gently got off my lap as she pulled the hoodie over head again as I walked towards the fridge to grab a beer for the both of us. I saw the blue hue appear on the front wall of the room as projector powered up.

Queen sat on the couch with her legs crossed as she fiddled with the remote before pressing play. I sat down right next to her as I handed her a can of beer. With a crack, she popped the can open and drank deeply before resting her head on my left shoulder.

"You know, you're the first guy that said no." Queen whispered sleepily while waiting for the movie to start playing.

"If we weren't team mates I would've said yes." I replied before gulping down a good amount of beer.

"If we weren't partners, I wouldn't have given you that offer so easily in the first place. I was just trying to do my job, besides you're not my type." Queen snapped back at me. "Now hush, the movie is starting."

Queen had chosen the movie _"Friends with Benefits" _which came out earlier that year. At some point that night, the both of us had fallen asleep. I woke up the next afternoon in her lap while her head rested on the arm chair. The tropical storm had not stopped at all as rain continued to platter against the closed windows. However, despite the noise of the storm, I just had the best sleep I had in a while without nightmares.

* * *

><p>I let out a sigh of delight as I finished devouring the meal Queen had left for me. It wasn't her best cooking, but then again, it is the apocalypse. The sound of running water caught my attention as I went left my chair with a screech.<p>

_"So that's where she_ went." I thought to myself as a grin formed on my lips.

The moment I walked in I found myself staring down the barrel of Queen's Beretta. She sighed before placing the weapon back down on the edge of the sink and returned to her bath. She sat in the bathtub facing the door with her legs out in the cold air. The rest of her body was submerged in the hot water with the exception of her hands which held a manga book. I sat down on the toilet to conduct my business.

"They can't use doors remember."

"Well, you can't blame me for being careful around a pervert," Queen said before shutting off the water.

"Not interested," I replied with a smirk on my face before I lit a cigarette.

"Oh right. I forgot that you're only interested in men. Sorry boss." Queen snapped back with a toothy smile on her face.

Queen returned to flipping through the pages of the manga book before tossing it on the floor. With a sigh Queen announced her dissatisfaction with the manga before stepping out of the bath.

"Jesus, I can't even look at the pictures to get the story anymore. It's just tits in my face on every page. I appreciate the fan service, but there's a point where you need to stop. How do people even read these? Like, am I reading this for a story or am I just looking at some soft-core hentai?"

I laughed at her frustration. Queen gave me a weird look as she swiped a towel off the rack.

"That's right! I forgot you used to do a little wet-work in the media for a bit! How did that job work out?"

Wiping a tear away from my eye, I tried my best to answer her question without laughing.

"When you spend days photo-shopping countless images of women just to refine their physical feats, you kind of get desensitized to the more sensitive body parts."

Queen placed the towel on top of her wet hair before grabbing my pack of Newports that sat on the edge of the sink. Looking inside the carton she raised an eyebrow at me.

"Jack. Ease up on the stoges partner." She said before grabbing one for herself.

I flicked my cigarette ash in my sink before I responded.

"You shouldn't be the one to talk. Get suited up. We've wasted enough time here."

Queen leaned back on the wall before crossing her arms in front of her chest. She wasn't trying to hide her feminine body parts. For her, that pose was more of a statement.

"Not after you've taken a shower. You've sweated so much that you reek now. It's disgusting. If those things hunted by smell, you'll be number one on the menu." She said as she tossed me another towel.

Queen was right. My clothes were still soaked with sweat after waking up from that nightmare.

"Hey Jack, I need to clear up something with you first. I'm your partner right?" Queen asked with her tone becoming serious.

"Yeah. You're my partner. What brought this on?" I asked while undressing.

Queen ignored my answer as she started to drive the conversation towards her point.

"You had that dream again. I could never figure out what kind of nightmare it was until you told me what happened on New Years Eve of 2008 two nights ago." Queen said with her head low.

Queen noticed a sudden twitch in my composure when she mentioned the nightmarish event. Before I could even ask her how she knew, she answered my question for me.

"I know you had that dream because your eyes are all puffy. And you only cry in your sleep... among other things."

Queen had caught me red handed. I admitted my guilt with a quiet nod before shifting my gaze away from her.

"Let it go partner. That incident you're holding onto is like a moldy piece of bread you've eaten. It's rotting you from inside out," Queen said in a bleak tone while pointing her right index finger at me.

I shifted my gaze from the bathroom tiles up to her. Queen's eyes were hidden underneath her damp hair as she continued to puff the cigarette in her mouth.

"They're dead. You're not. Simple as that. Live with it. If you still feel guilty about Typo, don't. Miko was the one went bat shit crazy and pulled the trigger." Queen growled.

"But I had the-"

Before I could even finish the sentence Queen had my back pinned against the sink with a violent kick. Leaning forward she grabbed me by the collar. Her head was low and she was shaking with anger and frustration.

"Look at you! Whimpering like a piece a shit. Spend a few years behind a desk in a business suit and you get all soft like a plushy toy. What happened to the bad ass with a machete who cut down thirteen guys to save me from that ditch? Huh?" Queen shouted as she kept me pinned.

Queen took a deep breath before continuing.

"That dumb bitch had it coming when she joined the team without understanding some unwritten rules. She had everything she needed for a good life, but she just had to run off looking for adventure didn't she. Probably never been raped of sold her entire life. Your old team fell apart when she opened her legs and fell in love with two men at the same time!" Queen spat as she bad mouthed my former team mate.

"Queen..." I muttered as I heard her sniffle.

"I knew Jack. I knew you brought her onto the team and she was your partner." Queen replied in a soft voice but her grip on my collar was still firm. "I'm different. I won't end up like Typo. I know the rules just like you. We made it clear that night. That's why we can be so comfortable with each other like this on such a casual basis. You don't f_ck your team mates and most of all... you don't go into relationships with your team mates."

I opened my lips to say something, but I couldn't think of any way to respond. My head was still blank with shock from Queen's outburst. Queen relaxed her grip as she stared at me with her teary eyes as if she was pleading.

"I am your partner right now. I am still alive. I want to stay that way. And in order for that to be possible, I need you to focus on the present! I can't have you distracted by the past. If I can't trust you to watch my back, I'll kill you myself... you got that. Partner?"

I gave Queen a weak laugh before putting my hands on her forearms so she can let me go. Queen was right. Again.

"Sorry, partner. I guess I've been sitting on my ass behind the desk for way too long."

Queen snickered at my comment in disgust.

"Sorry partner? We're a team remember? We take the blame together. Geez, you're such a pain in the ass every time you have that dream. You're still too young to get sentimental."

I heard the door open as Queen stepped outside, but before it closed Queen said one more thing to me. "Hey Jack, until both of us make it back home, you're not allowed to die on me. Not yet. I'd rather be a whore who gets passed around by all the guys at our company than get a replacement."

The door clicked shut, and as I stepped into the shower the door opened again.

Queen taunted me from outside. "Oh by the way boss. You should probably drain the pipe. I heard blue balls get in the way of running."

"Why don't you get in here and help me with that!" I shouted back over the sound of running water.

"You can't afford me boss! I'll see if I can find some magazines with hot guys you can beat off to. Laters!" Queen said as she closed the door laughing.

I grimaced at her remark. She burned me real good with that one. I'll get back at her eventually.

* * *

><p>Queen sighed as she leaned against the closed door with a painful smirk on her face.<p>

_"Stupid idiot. If we weren't team mates I would have probably helped."_ Queen thought to herself silently. She recalled the times Jack and her had shared in their little apartment in Roanapur. It was full of teasing, but it never went past that. Of course there were times when things got a little too intimate and they had to rein themselves in.

It's not that relationships between team mates were forbidden within the company, but it was because everyone knew how much of a risk it can become. Nobody wanted to be that one person to take that risk. Especially not Alan, Daniel, Jack or Tech. They already suffered the outcomes once, they were not ready to go through that again.

* * *

><p>I crept back into the living room, where Queen was squatting in front of the outlet checking our gear. She was dressed in black lacy panties with a matching bra, both of which she had obviously looted from their previous owners. She had yet to put on her clothes. A grin spread across my face when I registered the opening. I slung my wet towel right at her butt.<p>

_**TWACK!**_

Queen let out a yelp as she jumped up and looked at me while rubbing her bottom. She pouted and gave me a finger before returning to check the gear. My clothes reeked as well and there was no time to wash them. So I proceeded upstairs and dug around the in the man's wardrobe. Nothing but suits and pin stripe pants. I was about to give up until I found a pair of tan cargo pants at the end of the rack. I sighed in defeat, as I had suspected, they were too big on me when it came to the waist size.

Strangely enough, I did find some white collar shirts that fit perfectly and they don't seem to have been worn much lately. I supposed that those were the shirts he wore when he was younger and more fit. I finished dressing myself and grabbed the black tie hanging loosely on the rack before wrapping it around myself. I came down to the living room to find Queen fully dressed in black skinny jeans, and a brown ribbed tank top. She was also completely geared up as well and sitting on the couch watching the news.

"You done buttoning up your blouse princess? We got work to do." Queen said nodding at the television which showed the chaos brewing in front of the police blockades that were established on the bridges.


End file.
